Helpless and Hopeless
by astridzeogearfried
Summary: Shota Aizawa, a young boy bullied and abused by those around him for his quirk and/or behavior for all his life, with a retired villain father and mother having engraved it into his mind that he has to remain stoic and shut everyone and thing out in order to avoid becoming a target to the league of villains. This all changes when a certain blond boy is transferred to his class.
1. Chapter 1

A young woman with black, curly hair was bent down on one knee so she could speak at eye level with a little boy who wielded the same black hair.

"Shota, a quirk like yours can be extremely dangerous. If a bad guy finds out about it, they might take you and use you as a weapon against the good guys!"

"But, what if I used my quirk on the bad guys?"

"Listen to me, Shota. In order to keep you safe, you're going to have to keep your distance from others and stay that way."

"Keep my distance?"

"Don't talk, don't make eye contact, just stay away from socializing. You don't need friends anyway, you're plenty strong on your own."

"I'm strong?"

"Yeah. You can also easily handle managing your own emotions and keeping them in check, right? No crying or being giddy. You have to stay quiet and be the bigger man, it'll show maturity and strength by you never making a scene."

"Okay, I won't worry you!"

The woman tussled his hair and kissed his forehead.

All throughout Elementary school, Shota avoided social interaction with his classmates and never told a soul about his quirk. Everybody thought he was just some lame quirkless loser and thought nothing of him, aside from the occasional bully who would do their very best to get a rise out of him but to no avail.

Shota had locked away his emotions and threw away the key.

He had many mocking nicknames, like "ghost" or "soulless" since he was so pale due to the fact that he was given the very strict orders by his parents to get home as soon as school ended. He wasn't able or allowed to leave his house once he entered it, until his mother remarried and he got more,

"freedom".

His step-father cared for him, as did his mother. The atmosphere in the house started to change, though with his real father out of the picture, having been put in jail. His mother had changed a lot, too. Shota dreaded the inevitable return to his house.

The first day of Middle school,

Shota made his way through the halls and to his classroom without a word spoken to him, as he liked it. Upon entering the classroom, he was already greeted by his former bullies and the boy merely slouched, his dull countenance, unchanging. The bullies noticed him enter and smirked.

"Ah, nice to see you again, Aizawa!" One boy placed a hand on his hips. Shota didn't respond.

"Hey! We're talking to you!" Another boy said, grabbing Shota's arm when he tried to walk past them.

Sometimes his silence got him into a little trouble, though.

"Dammit, say something!" A third boy demanded.

 _Looks like someone's grumpy._ Shota thought and yawned.

They all knew that Shota was basically mute.

The bullies tormented and mocked him, Shota simply giving them the continuous dull stare, until the teacher arrived with some blond boy behind him. All the kids went to their respective seats but one kid shoved Shota to the floor while the teacher was preparing his notes, but the blond boy saw the whole thing.

"What happened?" The teacher asked and the bully helped Shota to his feet with a fake smile while Shota continued his bored countenance.

"He tripped." The boy told him. The blond, who witnessed the whole thing knew that was a lie and expected the black-haired boy to call the other boy out on it.

"Is that true?" The teacher asked and, much to the blond boy's surprise, the black-haired boy nodded.

"Yes." Then they both just went to their seats, the other boy had gotten away with it and he smirked because of that.

"Alright now class, this is Yamada Hizashi, be nice to him. Is there anything you'd like to say to the class Yamada?" The teacher asked but Yamada had started zoning out, staring at the small black-haired boy with concern. He noticed the small boy start to rest his head on his desk.

 _Does that happen often?_

 _Why is he so dismissive?_

 _Who was that jerk?_

 _Why didn't he call him out and tell the truth?_

 _I wonder why he's so much smaller than everyone else._

 _What's his favorite food?_

"Yamada? Yamada?!" The teacher snapped his fingers in front of the blond's face, startling him.

"Ah! Uh, yes?"

"Is there anything you'd like to say?" The teacher asked.

"Oh, right! Um, well, my quirk is Voice! I can break windows and make ears bleed! But I intend to use it for good so I'm going to go to U.A. To become a pro hero!" The blond noticed the black-haired boy's head perk up for a brief moment at the mentioning of his U.A. And pro hero dream, then quickly lowered back to the cushion that was his arms resting on his desk.

 _Does he share the same dream as me?_

Luckily there was an empty seat beside him. The occupied desk on his left, though, was scooted as far from the black-haired boy as possible like he was some kind of plague.

"Alright, now take your seat, Yamada." The teacher order, pointing at the only vacant one, which he had no quell in taking, but everyone he passed gave him pitying gazes that left the boy dumbfounded.

He sat and smiled at the sleeping boy beside him, though he couldn't see it and probably didn't care.

"Roll call, everyone!" The teacher announced and picked up a list to read off of.

"Aizawa Shota." He called out and the black-haired boy beside Yamada raised his hand.

"Here." The boy said in his monotone voice.

 _Aizawa Shota. So that's his name._ Yamada thought.

Class went by peacefully, nobody noticed Yamada passed a note to Aizawa, neither did Aizawa until he was woken up, opened the folded piece of paper and read it with confusion.

" _Wanna eat lunch together?_

 _From, Hizashi Yamada"._

 _Who the hell is that?_ The black-haired boy thought, raising an eyebrow before being tapped on the shoulder as though his mind was read. Aizawa jolted and turned to see who poked him, finding out it was some blond guy, pointing at the paper, then himself.

"No." Was all he said, then took his food out of his desk to eat in the classroom, just to get it tipped over "accidentally" by those jerks from earlier, causing Aizawa's entire lunch to spill all over the floor.

"Oops." The boy who did it teased but Aizawa bared no reaction while Yamada scowled.

"Why did you do that?!" The blond yelled. Aizawa just sighed and went to get the cleaning supplies.

"Because he thinks he's better than us and needs to be taught a lesson!" Another boy declared.

"Yet he never learns!" The third boy folded his arms while the black-haired boy bent down to begin sweeping the dirty lunch into the trash bin, just to receive a kick to the gut.

"Stop it!" Yamada got in front of him defensively.

"He's just gonna manipulate you and hurt you, Yamada." The third boy placed his hands on his hips.

"I don't believe that! _I_ think he's gonna be a hero!" Yamada protested as Aizawa started to stagger to his feet.

"Yeah right! He's nothing but a quirkless loser! Everyone knows that civilians are just obstacles! They get in the way of fighting villains!" The second boy yelled. Aizawa merely rolled his eyes at this.

"Heroes have two jobs, to protect civilians and fight villains! Hurting a civilian would make you just as bad as a villain!" Yamada told them.

The jerks started to yell something back but Yamada didn't care, he just grabbed Aizawa's arm and pulled him out of the classroom.

He practically dragged Aizawa all the way to the roof where there was peace and quiet, Aizawa's dull countenance remained the same though.

"Much nicer up here, don'tcha think?" Yamada asked and Aizawa nodded.

"So, you wanna be a pro hero but have no quirk?" Aizawa didn't respond in any way, no shake or nod.

"Do those guys pick on you often?" Aizawa nodded.

"Then don't worry, Aizawa, as an aspiring hero, I _will_ protect you!" Aizawa hastily shook his head and Yamada's cheerful grin lowered.

"You don't want to be protected? But you need it! They so easily punched your gut and hurt you! I can't just stand by and watch you get hurt!" Yamada exclaimed.

"There're cameras, so as long as I don't fight back, I'll be the victim and they'll be the ones getting the punishments." Aizawa muttered, pocketing one hand, slouching his shoulders and playing with the lock of hair that laid between his eyes.

"You can talk?!" The blond exclaimed.

"Pretty much all of the human race is born with vocal chords, dumbass." Aizawa told him, harshly.

Yamada could tell what Aizawa was trying to do; he was technically proving those bullies right and just wanted to be alone and simply didn't want Yamada's assistance in his problem so this was probably his pride talking.

"Let me get one thing straight, I don't need your help or protection. Leave me alone, _'Voice-hero'_." Aizawa stated and left the roof, leaving Yamada to admire the view alone.

"Voice-hero, huh? I like that." He muttered to himself.

"Man, he's so cool!" He added, blushing a bit.

 _He's so small and thin, though. Is he really okay?_ He thought, his smile dropping.

The rest of the day was fine. When the day ended, Aizawa left the classroom as quickly as possible and seemingly disappeared, according to the person who left the room right after him.

"Seriously, this is why we call him a ghost." The girl said.

"It's like he just vanishes."

"I've never seen him off school grounds before."

Yamada was extremely curious about Aizawa at this point but felt it was too late now to find him.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day,

Yamada wanted to get to class early in the hopes that he could talk to Aizawa before too many people showed up.

He entered to find Aizawa and a group of jerks tossing around some book that, presumably, belongs to Aizawa since he looks like he's clearly angry but trying to keep his cool and intercept the book tossing but is far too short to ever accomplish that task.

Without a word, Yamada quickly ran in and grabbed the book, intercepting the toss to the closest guy and couldn't help glancing at the book cover.

"Kitten care and you?" He mumbled prior to the book being yanked out of his hands by a fuming Aizawa, blushing from embarrassment.

"He has a cat fetish!" One boy yelled from across the classroom, chuckling.

"I just like cats." The ashamed black-haired boy whispered, hugging the small book to his chest. The blond glared at the other boys.

"What's your deal?! Let him like what he likes!" Yamada lectured, angrily and watched as Aizawa simply went to his seat without thanking him.

"He's just a _pussy_!" One boy snickered at his own lame cat pun.

"And you're a dumbass."One of the other bullies snapped back at him.

Aizawa simply rolled his eyes and opened up his book, flipping through a few pages in order to find his spot then began reading while the jerks argue with each other. Yamada took his seat beside him and tried to start a conversation.

"So, you like cats?" He asked but Aizawa just ignored him.

"I think cats are pretty cute, I love 'em!" He grinned and noticed Aizawa's eyes widen and blushed slightly. Yamada realized he had found common ground with the boy.

"I have a couple cats at my place." However, this seemed to change the boy's feelings because he then scowled, understanding what Yamada was probably trying to do.

Bribing him into friendship or, in Aizawa's paranoid mind,

 _just like mom said. He's gotta be an aspiring VILLAIN not a hero and he's planning to kidnap me._ The dark-haired boy thought and the blond wondered why Aizawa shifted his desk a little further away from him.

The two boys shared eye contact for half a second. Yamada's spiraled emerald eyes stared into the tiny black eyes belonging to Aizawa and how one was of concern while the other was of fright and slight rage. The blond was extremely confused by the reaction but also wanted to give him space.

For the rest of the week, Aizawa avoided Yamada like the plague.

"You see? He's nothing but a weirdo brat!" One boy told Yamada as they were walking through the halls together with a few other boys and passed Aizawa. Yamada had tried saying 'hello' but Aizawa just turned away.

"What the hell is his problem?!" Another boy grumbled.

"He's just jealous we're popular and he's not." A third boy chimed in.

"Why would anyone be friends with someone who's got such a sour attitude anyway, jeez, must he always be on his period?!" The second boy joked and the rest laughed, except for Yamada, who just looked back at the small black-haired boy with worry, still confused as to what he had really done to warrant being ignored like this.

"Don't bother with him, Yamada, it's for your own good if you just realize that all he is is an asshole." The third boy patted his pat comfortingly.

"Yeah! Nearly all of us tried being friends with him throughout Elementary school and all he did was this, just toss us aside like we're nothing when all we wanted was for him to have some fun in the sun! And yet he always accuses us and even the girls as the bad guys if they make him do anything that he doesn't wanna do." The first boy explained, pocketing his hands and grumbling, glaring forward.

"Trust us, you're better off staying away from him." The second boy said, nonchalantly.

Yamada couldn't help remembering his conversation with Aizawa on the roof and pondering if what they said is true. Aizawa was pretty rude,

 _what if that wasn't an act? Maybe that was his true self?_

"You guys have known Aizawa for how long?" Yamada raised an eyebrow.

"Since 3rd grade." The first boy stated with a groan.

"But still, is it really necessary to bully him every day?" Yamada defended.

"We'd stop if he just acted like a normal human being!" The third boy raised his voice but that was nothing compared to the blond's quirk.

"And just what is your definition of a 'normal human being' in our current society when people have such unique abilities?" Yamada grew far more serious. His piercing green eyes intimidated the third boy but he quickly regained his nerve.

"Someone capable of social interaction at the bare minimum, come on!" The second boy told him.

"He's so creepy sometimes too." The first boy added.

"Calling him 'creepy' is just a petty insult, you're just grasping at straws. I admit, Aizawa was pretty rude to me and I don't really get why he's avoiding me if we both like cats, honestly. But could you fill me in on how is bullying him going to make him more sociable? The more you bully him, the more he's just going to withdraw from society, you could turn him _into_ a VILLAIN!" Yamada scolded. The boys all had to hold their ears at the word "villain", as did most of the other students in the hallway.

"Woah, calm down! He doesn't even have a quirk! Just how dangerous could he be?!" The third boy yelled but his volume gradually lowered and each of the kids removed their hands from their, now ringing, ears. Yamada, embarrassed, clamped his mouth shut with his hands. The group of boys took a moment to stop and see Yamada's own handy work. The hall was full of other students, appearing to be a bit dizzy and some were still holding their ears. One of the boys in the group placed a hand on Yamada's shoulder.

"Aizawa is the last person we have to worry about, quirk-wise." The second boy told him in a joking manner.

"My quirk is really dangerous, I know that." Yamada muttered, holding his throat and looking away.

"Yeah, definitely." The third boy agreed, earning a secret annoyed glare from Yamada before the blond quickly sighed and pocketed his hands, just like the boys around him, though the ones on his right and left had one hand on his shoulders.

Throughout the week, he learned that apparently everyone in his class really doesn't like Aizawa. Yamada found out through both observation and note passing. He also partially pondered why the black-haired boy constantly napped during class.

 _I wonder if he's really sleep deprived. He has such a cute baby face when he sleeps. Looks so innocent._

 _I want to protect him._

Every time the guys tried to pick on Aizawa and Yamada was near, he would always, at least _try_ to put a stop to it. Every time he did so, however, he'd glance behind himself and find Aizawa nervously scowling at him as though he was one of the bullies as well.

Granted, he did(begrudgingly) "hang out" with a majority of the other boys in class. Every boy and girl has tripped or punched Aizawa at least once or twice. Yamada's conversations with the others often consisted of trying to get them to give up on messing with Aizawa and to just leave him be. The blond pitied Aizawa, hearing all the nasty things their peers said about him behind his back while he napped.

 _Heroes protect those in need! I WILL protect Aizawa!_

At the end of the first month, though, Aizawa actually passed a note to _him_!

" _Meet me on the roof at lunch."_ Yamada stared at the note, reading it over and over. He knew this meant the black-haired boy wanted to talk, he finally wanted to talk with him or maybe he just wanted to eat lunch together someplace quiet. Either way, Yamada obliged and eagerly awaited lunch time. He awoke Aizawa from his nap when this time came and the two walked out the classroom, down the hall, up the stairs, and to the roof, all the while Aizawa was walking in front with a far more confident demeanor but not in a positive way.

They reached the roof and for only a short second, savored the moment of nice peace and quiet.

Aizawa then stood in front of Yamada. The black-haired boy's fists were shaking, ready to punch someone's face while his own dull expression barely changed aside from a pout and scowl, it was a struggle to show his true anger and rage, especially since he was still somewhat fearful of the blond, making him jumpy and paranoid. If he were to get too furious, he might risk accidentally activating his own quirk, since he was never able to practice much due to its potential destructive consequences.

"I told you to leave me alone! Quit messing with my business!" Aizawa hissed through gritted teeth.

"So I should just let you get bullied?" Yamada asked, legitimately shocked someone would refuse help.

"I can take it and I don't need your damn help! I thought we were clear on that or do I need to get it out in writing so your pea-brain can understand that I don't want your help, I don't want to be friends, I just want you to stay the hell away from me!" Aizawa huffed. Yamada looked both hurt and curious.

"Why did you start avoiding me?" He asked and the smaller, angry, yawning boy gained a much more shy demeanor and he began fiddling with the lock of hair draping his nose.

"Please, Aizawa, answer. We were starting to have a nice conversation about cats then I bring up my house cat and suddenly I'm a villain to you." Yamada told him.

 _Well, the moron's observant, I'll give him that._ Aizawa thought, his countenance reverting to its prior bored appearance as he yawned.

"Let's not talk about that. I brought you here to discuss your idiocy insisting that you 'help' me. I get that you want to be a hero, same as me, but being annoying as hell is not the way to go." He glared and pocketed his hands while Yamada, surprisingly, gained a glare of his own.

"This is the most negative school I've been to. But Aizawa, we were just talking about things you like and then you just suddenly-."

"You were trying to bribe me into friendship." Aizawa bluntly stated.

 _Or kidnap me. I can't believe I got the balls to confront a potential villain._ He thought to himself.

Yamada could see the hint of anxiety through the thick wall of hostility Aizawa had up front.

"No, I was just trying to find a common ground. Something we both like! I want to be friends, Aizawa, you're pretty negative just like everyone else but at least you don't bully those weaker than you. Not to mention we both want to be heroes! So, what _is_ your quirk anyway?" Yamada ranted and Aizawa rolled his eyes.

"Firstly, you talk way too much. Secondly, I know everyone has told you by now the truth that I'm just a quirkless loser. My dream of becoming a pro is simply irrational." He looked away.

"I don't believe that." Yamada smirked and Aizawa scoffed.

"Whaddaya mean?" The black-haired boy was genuinely confused and curious as to his answer.

"I'm certain you have a quirk. You're just hiding it." The giddy blond told him.

"And why would I do that?" Aizawa questioned.

 _Maybe he's scared? He could have a really powerful and terrifying quirk. If I say that out loud though, he'd bound to just leave, angry, wishing he could strangle me._ Yamada thought.

"I, uh, have a few theories. But if we both wanna be heroes, I think we should be friends. We could get into U.A. Together and help each other grow and-!"

"No thanks." Aizawa waved him off again and headed towards the stairway.

"W-WAIT!" He grabbed Aizawa's arm, accidentally using his quirk again too.

Aizawa, jolted, whipping around, hastily yanking his arm away from Yamada and leaping back, his eyes flared red and his hair flew up as he immediately got into a defensive stance, clearly panicked. However, Aizawa, was quick to realize his mistake and he blinked, looking away, his hair fell back down and Yamada saw the red flare disappear. While his eyes were red though, he felt like his quirk had been taken from him, like it just vanished from his throat.

The boy's green eyes were wide with shock as he came to the realization of what Aizawa's quirk was. He stared at Aizawa who was still in a frightened, defensive stance, even though all he did was grab his arm, then watched the boy dart towards him without a word.

Aizawa shoved him out of the way and sprinted down the stairs in a panic.

Yamada no longer had the stomach to eat his lunch.

When he returned to class, he found Aizawa wasn't there.


	3. Chapter 3

After school he checked the nurse's office, behind the school, the roof, seemingly everywhere on school grounds except for the gym but he didn't bother since he heard they locked it up after school.

Aizawa had disappeared once more. With a heavy sigh, Yamada walked home.

"So he can erase quirks? I don't get why he doesn't use it on his bullies. Though those jerks don't really use their quirks on him so his is technically useless. But a quirk like his, that'd come in super handy when fighting a really powerful villain. If he would just accept help from others, I'm sure he'd be a great hero. I can't believe he actually erased a quirk as powerful as mine! He'll have to work on other stuff too though, like fighting and maybe get some weapons." The boy muttered. After a couple minutes of walking, he turned around a corner and, much to his surprise, he saw Aizawa reading his book on a park bench. Yamada had to go this route in order for him to get home at a reasonable hour.

 _Well, he has his nose buried in that book..._

The crazy haired, spiral green eyed, orange glasses wearing boy tried his very best to be subtle but him and Aizawa were the only living creatures on that street, nothing was moving. It was a suburban area, the sun was setting, a majority of the cars were either parked or gone, the squirrels and birds were in the trees, the only sound that surrounded them was the gentle wind.

So, despite Aizawa's intense focus on his book, it was easy to notice the movement of anything near him, especially something as big as a person. When his eyes raised to find it was Yamada, his heart sank. He slammed the book shut and started running.

"A-Aizawa!" Yamada didn't know why he ended up chasing after him, it looked creepy but his feet refused to obey his commands. He wanted to clear up the misunderstandings though.

It didn't take long for Yamada to catch up, however since he had longer legs. When he went around another corner, he found the small black-haired boy leaning against the wall, panting like he had just run a marathon and holding his stomach.

 _He hardly ran that much. Why is he so exhausted?_

"Uh, hey, Aizawa, are you o-?" His question was cut short by the panting boy suddenly falling to his knees and vomiting. Yamada ran to his side to rub his back and Aizawa raised a shaking arm in the effort to push him away.

"Don't touch m-!" He threw up again and quickly stopped caring who was rubbing his back. Yamada pulled out his phone and Aizawa saw him press the numbers "9 1" before swiftly stopping him.

"No, don't!" He told him as he tried to swallow and keep down what wanted to come up.

"What?! Why?!" Yamada exclaimed.

"Just don't. I'll feel better when I empty out my stomach." Aizawa said.

"Aizawa, let me walk you home." Yamada said, rubbing his back as he puked one last time.

"No." Aizawa bluntly stated, then entered a coughing fit, wiping the tears from his eyes due to the vomiting.

"Then let's call your parents and have you stay at my place for the night. Obviously I get sore throats a lot so we might as well be a make-shift hospital. You can take a bath and wear some of my pajamas. My house is really close." Yamada assured as he got up and offered a hand to Aizawa who was swift in denying it.

"No thanks. I can take care of myself, Yamada." Aizawa declared, scowling.

"Try to stand on your own." Yamada smirked and retracted his hand of assistance.

Aizawa shakily and slowly staggered to his feet.

 _If only I could use my scarf to fling me from roof to roof, I wouldn't have to worry about getting dizzy if I was an expert. God dammit, I wish a month's experience with it would be enough to actually capture someone like this idiot and just slam him into the ground, that'd be fun._

He leaned on the wall and when he wasn't leaning on the wall he was a bit dizzy and wobbly.

"Yeah, you're bound to collapse. You're coming to my place." Yamada stated as the sky darkened further, the street lamps beginning to turn on one by one and he gently coiled his arm around Aizawa's as a way to support him.

Aizawa, once again, yanked his arm away from Yamada.

"You're acting like some startled cat. Hold on, if walking is too difficult, I'll call my dad and ask him to drive us home." He went through his contacts.

"No. I'm feeling a lot better. I'm going back to _my_ place. And also, one more thing, _Yamada_." Aizawa started and Yamada lifted his eyes from his phone to the black-haired boy just to be met with a swift and hard kick to the stomach, knocking down the, previously happy blond, and making him barf as well. He looked up as Aizawa stood over him with a furious expression.

"Don't you dare tell _anybody_ about my quirk or that I even have one to begin with! Stop protecting me you idiot! And stay the hell away from me and my business!" Aizawa hissed with gritted teeth and fists clenched.

"But is it true? Can you really erase people's quir-?!" Aizawa kicked his chest, knocking the wind out of him before he could finish his sentence, then finally took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. He gazed down at the boy with guilt and pinched his brow.

The black-haired boy casually crouched down, sitting on the curb, he nonchalantly snatched Yamada's phone.

"H-HEY!" Yamada coughed out some bile, still in terrible pain. Aizawa quickly flashed him a red-eyed glare, then blinked and just flicked his forehead and flipped him off while he went through the blond's contacts until he finally found "DAD" on the list. Aizawa hit call, surprising and confusing Yamada.

"Hi, uh, something's happened to your son. He needs to be picked up and maybe taken to a hospital but I don't think his injuries are that severe, he got a hard kick to the gut and lungs and puked up his lunch or breakfast." Yamada was appalled at Aizawa's actions.

"Yeah, don't worry, they're pretty minor injuries. I can tell." Aizawa added, Yamada scoffed.

 _They don't FEEL "minor"!_

"Alright, bye." And he hung up.

"Woah. I didn't think you would actually-!" Yamada started, gaining some strength back.

"Shut up." Aizawa flicked his forehead again.

"Ow!" The blond pretended to whimper like a puppy.

"I don't wanna feel any sicker than I already am." The black-haired boy muttered.

"I was right. I knew you had to be nice on the inside at least." Yamada grinned.

"Well whatever. See 'ya." Aizawa said as he got up and started to run before Yamada's parents could show up and take them both home.

 _Why does he seem so scared?_ Yamada wondered.

Aizawa decided to take the longer way to his own home, reminding himself of his father's warnings to get home before dark _or else_. The boy walked faster, nervously rubbing his arm.

 _He seems so stupidly ignorant and naive._

 _It's more than likely just a front to lull me into a false sense of security so he can kidnap me._

 _Guess dad was right, I really can't afford to trust any of them, no matter how innocent they look._

 _But, he's a transfer._

 _Did he do some kind of in-depth research on the school and it's students, found me and decided to come in under the lie that he wants to be a hero like me?_

 _He might have a shape-shifter in his 'family' or a mind-reader. They probably know all about me and my father and are just playing dumb, waiting for the right moment to attack when I've lowered my guard._

 _I got careless and stupid today though! If they did their research and somehow didn't know my quirk before, they do now and now they can start taking precautions for it in case I struggle when they inevitably try to take me! Dammit!_

 _I can't tell dad, he'll kill me!_

 _I have to just keep working to prepare as well for the day the others find me too, if I can do that and keep 'laying low' I WILL accomplish my dream._

 _That blond bastard is nothing but a liar but I still couldn't help doing the one thing I hated receiving from him._ _Help._ _I'm a hypocrite._

 _Ugh, and now that moron is gonna think we're friends! I should've flicked his forehead again and spat on his face. It just didn't feel right kicking someone while they're down and leaving them to be potentially taken by villains in their weak state._

 _If his home was really that close then his family shouldn't take long to pick him up by car. After getting a swift kick to the gut and lungs, his true colors are bound to show when his 'parents' ask him what really happened._

 _He'll either agree with my statement and avoid blaming me for the injuries or he'll tell the truth. Luckily he doesn't know the way to my house or address, just the general direction that I ran in._

 _I may get questioned at school which will certainly lead to a talk with my dad, I did my best to make sure I was close to a blind spot with the cameras so that in case I had to use my quirk for an emergency, I could run to it, being rather light on my feet it's pretty easy to dodge on-coming attacks. But thank God I managed to lead him successfully to that blind spot, sure I'll get in trouble for the actual beating itself and the bullying will definitely increase, calling me a psycho or violently angry or maybe they'll start avoiding me._

 _No matter how it's spun, all that can be visibly shown of our 'meeting' are the physical damages, he can claim I have an erasing quirk to the students, it's only dangerous if he really is a villain. That idea is a little shuddering. I have no idea what those guys really know about me and if they think I, of all people, have this kind of power at the palm of my hands,_

 _they'll come after me, no doubt._

 _Just like mom and dad said, I have to be wary and extremely vigilant._

 _I can barely handle myself in one-on-one fights, but I don't have a grasp on my scarf and I can barely erase a person's quirk for more than 12 or 15 seconds before I have to blink!_

 _I clearly need a LOT more training._

"Training that which we can provide." Some sketchy guy in all black bumped into him while they passed each other along the sidewalk. They both stopped once they were a couple feet away from one another. Aizawa was frozen in terror.

 _He, he heard my, my thoughts! Should I-?_

"Erase my quirk then attack? Or simply run? I just wanna talk, Shota Aizawa." The man calmly stated.


	4. Chapter 4

Aizawa was far too scared, he had never encountered an actual villain before and spoken with one. This thought made the man chuckle.

"But you talk to one all the time, Shota." The man snickered in amusement as he glanced back at the boy and grinned wide to see he was faced with flaring red eyes and floating black hair.

"Yes, go ahead, keep using it. Ah, you look just like your dear old daddy!" He told him and Aizawa blinked, furiously rubbing his eyes when his hair fell down.

"Shota. We could train you to be something far better! Far stronger! He's been holding you back!" He declared, offering a hand to the boy, Aizawa took a step back.

"No thanks. I intend to get stronger so I can beat people like you and the league!" Aizawa stated, gaining more confidence and scowling with fists clenched.

"Beat people like us? You'll have to beat yourself, too then, Shota." The man smirked and Aizawa wanted to draw his eyes away from the eerie man but remembered the words of his father involving battle or suspicious characters.

" _'Always try to keep them in your line of sight.'"_

Aizawa kept himself on guard, tense and ready to activate his quirk at any moment even though all the man could do was read minds. He did his best to remain calm during such a stressful situation.

"I'm gonna be a hero one day and you guys can't stop me!" Aizawa hissed, trying to sound intimidating but he failed when his voice cracked at a few words, amusing the villain.

"Shota, I can see into your memories, not _just_ read your mind and do you know what I see? From a certain moment in your childhood? A deep sense of guilt from when you-!" Aizawa wouldn't let the man finish and chose to flee instead. The boy felt like a coward but, even though he could easily punch him in the gut, he just wanted to get home as soon as possible. The teen knew his dad was waiting as always and had gotten used to it, since Aizawa always told him he went to a knitting club and that was the supposed reason for the scarf's existence.

He darted through his shitty neighborhood, now more paranoid than ever, ran into his house, closing the door behind himself as quietly as possible but there was still a click sound from the screen door that his father heard. His father was lying in his recliner, watching TV, but still had his keen hearing.

"Shota!" He called out and the quivering boy hesitantly answered.

"Y-yes?" He muttered.

"Get me some wine." The man ordered and the teen went to their liquor cabinet in his best attempt at seeming normal.

"Feeling ca-classy to-day? And I'm guessing, eeyuh, y-you, um, don't care which brand?" The boy asked, turning behind himself to find his lazy father yawn then nod. He picked out a random bottle and one of the fancier cups they owned, trying to talk while he poured, causing it to overflow.

"'Ya seem a bit shaky, Shota." Stated as he handed the fancy, filled almost to the brim cup if part of it hadn't spilled over, over to his already messy black-haired father. Shota stared at his father's black hair and eyes, the most noticeable trait they shared as father and son, and it gave him all sorts of mixed feelings. The boy gripped his nauseous stomach, even though he knew it was empty, there also lied a hint of rage, a bit of sadness, a mass of guilt when he thought of the things that were his own fault, fear, and yet deep down at the very bottom of the barrel in Shota's heart full of negative emotions towards his father, there still lied an extremely tiny, miniscule piece of him that still cared for the man just a tiny bit but only during times when he was looking away from him, when he was docile, times like these were the times in which he actually somewhat cared for the scumbag.

"Y-yeah. Um-." He deeply pondered whether or not he should tell the truth. At this time, he wanted to savor it, not ruin it by sending his father into a presumed panic attack or having him decide that they suddenly have to live in a bunker for the boy's "safety". He also purposefully poured him the wine with the least amount of alcohol in it since he's far less patient otherwise. Now could be the best chance though, before he gets too rough.

"Something happen?" The man ask and the boy, so weak-willed against his father, couldn't think up a good lie so he just stayed silent and looked away nervously with an, unintentionally but clearly guilty or nervous expression.

"Shota! Answer me!" Even without his alcohol, the man was still rather impatient, but he lasted several minutes without raising his voice, something he knew Shota hated and saw the boy wince at. The teen remained silent even when the man got out of his recliner, then grabbed Shota's arm. He frantically squirmed in his grip, tears running down his face at the obviously terrible pain his arm was causing him.

"Alright alright!" He gave in and his father released his arm, in favor of lifting him up by the collar of his shirt.

"It was...a villain." Shota muttered and his father let go of his uniform shirt. Shota fell a couple feet and landed hard on his rear but was quick to curl up in a ball. His father started pacing around the room, running his fingers through his hair, clearly stressed and terrified and asked him a bunch of questions.

"Do they know where we live?"

"He didn't say."

"How much did they tell you? How big has the league gotten?"

"Not much and I don't know."

"Did they try anything or do anything to you?"

"Just said some things to mess with me.

"How much do they know?"

"They..., they have a guy who can read minds. He's the one that came up to me. I would've beaten him up but my feet just acted on their own and made me run away. I feel like a coward."

"You still made it home in one piece."

"Yeah, I'm going to my room." Shota got back to his feet and wobbled over there.

"Don't you want some dinner first?" The man pointed at the cup of ramen by the microwave and the boy merely shook his head.

"No." He was still sick from earlier.

The boy went to his room, greeted by a black cat sleeping on his window sill and eating out of a can of cat food he had placed there. The sight was rather calming and eased his nerves a bit but he was still shaking. He didn't have the nudge the cat away or strength to pull her in so he just left her be as he flopped onto his bed and curled back into a shivering ball of fear.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day,

Aizawa was a mess. He kept his head down on his desk, hiding his face but his fear had turned to anger every second that Yamada was in his presence.

Yamada had gotten much better over night, he was just a little worried over Aizawa and rightfully so, seeing his current condition.

"Are you okay?" He asked and only received a scowl in response and a note.

" _Meet me on the roof at lunch again."_ Yamada thought they had ended on rather good terms last evening, though, but judging by the note and Aizawa's expression, he must be pissed at him again for something else.

Come lunch time once more, the two boys emerge from their seats and walked to the roof just as they did last time, Aizawa mute the entire time until they arrived. Once up there, he slammed the door shut behind themselves and dragged Yamada far away from it.

"Aizawa, what's going on?" Yamada asked and Aizawa slammed him into the fence, furious.

"You or your supposed 'family' sent that villain after me didn't you?!" He hissed and Yamada's eyes shot wide, jaw agape. Aizawa's eyes immediately flaring red and hair flying up.

" _What?! You encountered a villain_?!" The blond exclaimed. Aizawa predicted he would use his quirk, whether by accident or on purpose.

"Don't play dumb, dumbass!" He grabbed Yamada by the collar of his uniform, having to blink though so his hair fell back down.

"I swear! I didn't! I'm not involved with any villains! I told you I wanna be a hero!" He hastily excused.

"And how do I know that's not a lie?" The boy's black eyes flared red again.

The blond didn't know how to prove his innocence. He knew he was innocent and that he would never lie, but how could he show that to Aizawa? A boy whom he had only observed for a month and still hardly knew anything about.

"Because I care about you!" Yamada told him and Aizawa's widened in confusion.

"What?"

"I don't wanna see you like this. I want you to smile, I want you to be happy. I'm sorry I grabbed your arm and if you really want me to, I'll leave you alone. Okay? I won't press any further and I'll stop following you. That's how I'll prove that I really do care about you. Would some villain spy give you privacy if they were after you?" Yamada blushed and gave him a genuine grin. Aizawa wasn't entirely sure how to respond.

"Thank you." The black-haired boy sighed in relief, his former hostile countenance reverting back to his normal blank and bored looking expression. His tense shoulders slowly lowered and he pocketed his hands. Yamada noticed Aizawa wore a thoughtful gaze, clearly thinking hard about something.

 _I'll have to ask dad a question of my own when I get home._

 _Should I go earlier?_

 _Definitely before sundown but maybe I can get away with-, no. No, I can't take any chances. There's the possibility that they may start coming for me in increasing numbers. I know I can't take more than one person on in a fight and if Yamada isn't with them, that may have just been coincidence._

 _However, I can't afford to let my guard down around him though. If this guy is a spy and he brings in nothing to report for a certain amount of time, they're bound to kill him or he'll "transfer to a new school". If he really isn't one of them and goes a whole two or so months without bothering me, I might start to believe his claim of denial._

 _Until then, I have to work as hard and as quickly as possible to master my damned scarf!_

 _The most ideal villain for me to encounter is one with no combat skills and relies on his quirk. Not every bad guy is gonna be like that though! Nearly all of them will have excellent combat training at the very least and their quirks are a mere addition to their strength. I've gotta work even harder!_

"You okay?" Yamada abruptly cut off Aizawa's train of thought and gave him a jolt at the sound.

"Ah! Uh, um, I, uh, I'm fine." Aizawa assured, looking away.

"I can't help but worry, though. I'm not with any villains and didn't tell anybody but I do kinda see why you'd accuse me if it happened so soon after meeting me. I'd be suspicious too. However, it seems odd that they'd target you for your quirk." Yamada muttered and Aizawa's eyes shifted towards him at his last sentence.

"My quirk can cause a lot of damage and you've felt it first-hand how much it hurts when I use it at a restrained volume by accident. Why not try to go after me?" The blond spoke so casually about it that it almost freaked out the black-haired boy who knew that the fool had no idea what he was talking about.

"You make it sound like you want to be captured!" Aizawa raised an eyebrow.

"If one of us had to be taken by them, I'd rather it be me than you." Yamada calmly folded his arms and smiled at the other boy who had been left dumbfounded and speechless at this statement.

"You dumbass! Do you have _any_ idea what kinda crap they put you through once you're in their hands?!" Aizawa started to raise his voice.

"Uh, no?" Yamada wondered what was the appropriate response.

"Waterboarding, strangling, burning, fingernail removal, tongue removal, beatings, mutilation, and visual traumatic horror hypnosis!" Aizawa hissed, eyes flaring red but actively gripping his hair to keep it from flying up. Yamada was terrified.

" _WHAT_?!" The blond exclaimed, appalled.

"Wait. How do you know this stuff?" He questioned and Aizawa's passionate firey rage extinguished.

He blinked and let go of his, now limp, hair as he directed his sight to the tiled concrete beneath their feet. He weighed his options.

 _It seems like he really does care but he could easily just be a good actor._ Aizawa thought.

"I-I, um, it's my best guess, after all villains are the worst of the worst." He excused and Yamada nodded.

"Yeah," was all the blond could think to say and the two were left in complete silence.

 _I may need him as back up or protection._

Aizawa seemed anxious and finally just got up and left without another word.

Yamada decided he would earn Aizawa's trust by backing off and staying away as much as possible.

During their first month of knowing each other, every time Yamada stopped Aizawa's bullies from their abuse on him, he would receive a glare from the black-haired boy for helping him. Reluctantly, though it went against his moralities as an aspiring hero who swore to protect others, he decided to go with his wishes and allow the abuse to continue.

Every day, Yamada witnessed the jerks mock the small, tired, monotone, emotionless boy or yank his hair or punch and kick him. The blond, always wanted to just run out of the classroom in disgust at the terrible actions his classmates were committing against the innocent boy, but he felt obligated to stay as though maybe his presence would stop the bullies. He would consistently scowl at the jerks and Aizawa noticed that he would never eat his lunch while these events occurred, unlike his other classmates who acted like nothing was happening. A majority of the beatings, Yamada would shut his eyes or turn away from. He stopped asking Aizawa questions after that day on the roof. Aizawa seemed to be glad Yamada was basically ignoring him.

Yamada was keeping good on his word and actually earning the other boy's trust.

No villains showed up during this docile two month period and Aizawa managed to get some good practice with his scarf. In the gym he succeeded in using the scarf to pick up one basketball at a time and throw it at a moderate speed, finally utilizing the actual purpose of his scarf: to _capture_. He wanted to try and use it to lift his body off the ground and raise him to the railings but it took far more than 20 seconds to safely get himself up, let alone get down as well and his eyes didn't have the strength yet, he'd get halfway down or up before having to blink and end up breaking his pelvis.

He had yet to train his eyes and the boy internally smacked himself for not thinking to do so.


	6. Chapter 6

_Everything has been normal, like that night never happened but I can't help training with my scarf most of the time. Ugh, how could I forget to train to lengthen my ability to keep my eyes open! I need my eyedrops._ The black-haired boy thought to himself as the school day approached its end and he glanced at Yamada before scribbling down a note and passing it to him.

" _Okay, I'll walk you to your house."_ The blond mouthed, soon finding his cheeks were reddening that got Aizawa a little embarrassed and starting to have second thoughts.

When the school day ended, the two boys went to the shoe lockers together, switched out from their uniform shoes to regular sneakers and made their way towards the front gate.

"No one's ever walked with me home before." Yamada commented.

"Whaddaya mean? Aren't you popular or at least you had to have been at your last school." Aizawa slouched and pocketed his hands.

"Not really. Everyone was pretty scared of my quirk." Yamada said and Aizawa's ears perked up and eyes widened.

"Nobody spoke to me since they knew I could make people's ears bleed and potentially knock them unconscious from the mere shock of such a high volume. Aizawa, my mother is deaf because of me." The saddened blond held his throat, looking away.

Aizawa wasn't sure if he should be totally honest with him though.

 _He's clearly pouring his heart out and after a whole two months of obeying my wishes of leaving me alone, I think...I think I can trust him._

"My dad is a retired villain. He can disintegrate people just by looking at them, his hair flies up and eyes turn red, according to photos taken by witnesses out of his line of sight." Aizawa bowed his head, obvious shame in his voice as he used his own hair to conceal his face.

"So that's why you know so much-. He was a member of the league of villains, I'm guessing?" Yamada hesitantly asked and received a tiny nod from Aizawa.

"His name was _Incinerator_." Aizawa sighed and Yamada stopped walking. Aizawa turned around to be met with a petrified Yamada, something the black-haired boy had predicted as a response.

"Y-y-you mean th-the ma-man who c-can i-incinerate pe-people to a p-pi-pile of ashes with j-just one l-look?!" Yamada went pale and recalled seeing the news report when he was little and how it showed a frightening, black-haired man as he was being dragged into police custody, then the man's eyes flashed red and his hair flew up and the officers closest to him were incinerated on live TV before his parents swiftly shut it off.

Aizawa took a deep breath and sighed once more, keeping his hands in his pockets and dull expression remaining though with a hint of irritation or sadness.

"Are you scared of me now?" The black-haired boy asked, Yamada now seeing the family resemblance, he stayed silent, unsure of what to say.

"It's alright." He told the uneasy blond, who raised his emerald eyes back up to him.

"I'm used to it." He added then turned away and continued walking. Yamada was genuinely afraid of Aizawa in that moment, frozen and speechless even. The boy fought hard with himself to get Aizawa to come back and apologize but his body would not budge as the villain's son got further and further away until finally, he managed to call out to him.

" **W-WAIT!** " He yelled. The trees shook, the birds flew away, car alarms went off, and he saw the sound blast throw Aizawa to the ground as he immediately curled up in a ball, holding his ringing ears in pain and cried out in sheer agony. Yamada ran to Aizawa in a panic to make sure he was alright and found the horrifying sight of blood trickling out of his ears. Aizawa was incredibly disoriented and tired.

Yamada lightly pressed two fingers to the side of the ear-bleeding boy's neck and thankfully felt the heartbeat. The blond breathed a sigh of relief then looked at Aizawa directly, moving aside his hair to check for any facial damages. He saw none and, while carefully cradling the black-haired boy's head, he asked him some questions.

"Are you alright? Can you stand? Can you walk?" A brief pause followed prior to Aizawa answering.

"WHAT?!" He asked, Yamada's voice he could barely comprehend.

"I'll take that as a no." The blond didn't want to raise his voice any higher, worried he could make Aizawa go deaf and merely scooped up the rather small boy, choosing to carry him to his house since he had no clear idea where Aizawa lived and was already too terrified of his father to even consider going to his neighborhood to even just drop him off.

Aizawa quite soon fell asleep in his arms, which he would have found to be rather cute and amusing, but the blond's green eyes could not be drawn away from Aizawa's bleeding ears and the messy black hair originating from the Incinerator, not to mention his black eyes that flashed red just like his father's, thank God they were closed and Yamada didn't have to look at them.

When the black-haired boy awoke, he found himself in a rather clean and colorful bedroom. There were posters on the wall of radio and rock stars, the walls themselves were blue instead of a moldy, dirty white, the hardwood floor was just cleaned, there was also a desk with several high stacks of CDs and a CD player, accompanied by a radio. He slowly sat up, all movement left him with a splitting migraine that made him grip his head in the seemingly futile effort to relieve the pain, just as Yamada walked in, a white cat following him.

"H-how are 'ya doin'?" The blond nervously asked.

"Wha-?" Aizawa squinted his eyes at him since his ears were still recovering. Ignoring Yamada a bit, Aizawa's sight lowered to the white cat and Yamada noticed the black-haired boy's subtle blush and jaw falling slightly agape.

"So you _weren't_ lying about having a cat." Aizawa gained a tiny sweet smile and it made Yamada start to actually ignore who the boy's father was, remembering how much he just wanted to see Aizawa smiling and happy. The cat hopped onto the bed where the black-haired boy was sitting.

Yamada watched as Aizawa casually and carefully picked up the cat.

"U-uh! She doesn't like being lifted-!" Yamada warned but the cat didn't scratch him as she was gently placed down in Aizawa's lap and started getting her back stroked. The cat purred and Aizawa smiled kindly and Yamada thought it was the cutest thing in the whole world.

"You two are so adorable!" Yamada exclaimed as Aizawa was playing with the cats paws and he turned bright red as his hearing continued to gradually return. By now, the ringing was almost totally gone but Yamada's speaking was still a couple notches down in volume, which Aizawa didn't mind and it was something the two could work with, though his headache was still pretty bad, it lessened in intensity when he sat still for a certain amount of time but if he moved around too much, it would hurt much more.

"Uh, thanks?" Aizawa wasn't entirely sure how to respond.

"But Aizawa, I have to know, is it true? There's no way you could possibly be the son of a villain! You're just pullin' my leg! Right?" Yamada asked.

"It's true. I'm the son of the Incinerator. He told me the league of villains didn't know of my birth and so to keep me safe, we moved all around from place to place. I was told to _never_ use my quirk and stay away from others. Bottle up my emotions and throw that bottle in the ocean. If someone saw my hair fly up and eyes flare red, it'd be a dead giveaway as to who I belonged to." Aizawa looked down.

"You don't belong to anybody. He's not your _master_! And you're definitely not safe in a villain's care." Yamada told him.

"Don't you dare tell _anyone_ , Yamada! I'd much rather get bruises than lose my fingernails!" Aizawa hissed, eyes intimidatingly flaring red and black hair flying up.

"Alright. Fine. I'd just rather you'd have _no_ injuries!" The blond told him, glaring, though far more frightened of Aizawa's red eyes now, he managed to hide the fear. Aizawa exhaled and blinked, his hair falling limp and draping his shoulders once more.

"No orphanage can protect me without his kind of quirk. I don't feel like putting anybody else in any kinda danger for the sake of protecting me from those assholes. I'd much rather just get stronger on my own so I can finally get to a point where I can fully protect myself without having to rely on my dad since there aren't really any stealth heroes who could swoop in and save the day when I'm approached by one of those bad guys. All the heroes just soak up the spotlight and fame nowadays. When I become a pro hero, I'm gonna work from the shadows." Aizawa rambled, continuing to stroke the cute cat in his lap.

"I think that suits you." Yamada commented and Aizawa nodded.

"Oh and hey, uh, what time is it?" Aizawa asked, turning to the window, but the curtains were drawn.

Yamada removed his phone from his pocket, telling Aizawa it was 10PM. Aizawa's stomach dropped and eyes widened. He carefully removed the cat from his lap and immediately hopped off the bed, the sudden movement hurt his aching head in the process.

"I have to get out of here and back home!" Aizawa hastily told him, snatching his backpack from the floor that laid beside the bright orange one and Yamada heard the panic in his voice.

"But it's already dark out! It's too dangerous!" Yamada opened up the curtains to reveal their pitch-black neighborhood only illuminated by street lights.

"I don't care!" Aizawa exclaimed, gripping his head in pain.

"Let's just call your dad and tell him you're sleeping over at a friend's house." Yamada him and handed Aizawa the phone. After a few seconds, Aizawa hesitantly took it and dialed the number, requesting that him and the cat leave the room. Yamada obliged and they watched Aizawa's body language and listened in through a crack in the door.

"H-hey, dad, it's Shota. I'm fine, everything is totally fine. I'm sleeping over at a friend's house. We, we trust each other, he's not with _them_ , I promise. Dad, please! I told you I trust him! B-but-! No, you-you don't understand! I'm not calling you stupid! But it's night! I'm okay! But-! Alright, I'm on my way." Aizawa hung up and sighed.

"Dammit." He muttered, then turned to the door and opened it, hardly surprised to find Yamada was listening while holding his adorable white cat. Aizawa gently scratched under her chin and Aizawa's former dull expression had returned.

"See 'ya."

"H-hold on! I'm going with you!" Yamada set his cat down and lead Aizawa to the front door where the shoes were. Aizawa objected, arguing throughout their entire walk through the relatively short hallway and around the corner. The front door was right beside the kitchen and a part of the dining room and both boys, as they were putting on their shoes, were soon interrupted by footsteps approaching. They turned to look behind themselves and saw Yamada's mother with an angry look on her face and a warm glass of milk in her hand.

 _Yamada told me he deafened his mother..._ Aizawa thought to himself as the woman turned on the light and set her cup down and, as apposed to yelling, she started using sign language.

Yamada quickly quickly began using sign language too, with an anxious expression, trying to explain himself while Aizawa kept staring at the silent argument.

 _So Yamada really has yet to lie to me even once._

It felt so strange to Aizawa since his father had always drilled it into his head that he should never trust anybody. That people are just naturally deceitful.

However, the boy quickly began getting impatient and gestured for Yamada to hurry it up and finally after a little begging, his mother relented and the boys left their house.

Aizawa pulled Yamada along and it left Aizawa's head in agonizing pain that he forced himself to try to ignore.


	7. Chapter 7

" _While we're outside you shouldn't talk about my father or our dreams."_ Aizawa whispered when they slowed their pace to a mere hasty walk. Yamada raised an eyebrow. The boy pulled the blond close to whisper into his ear.

" _There's cameras. Cameras that villains can hack into and potentially hear our conversations. Villains who know we're aspiring heroes will make us targets. The less people who know about our dreams and quirks, the better."_ Then Aizawa put a few feet of space between him and Yamada as the two walked side by side, Aizawa trying to put the thought of his father's inevitable rage for being late out of his mind and Yamada was full of mixed feelings.

It was useful that Aizawa knew so much, but the place he got his information, and having all this kind of information at such a young age felt so wrong. He was also feeling guilt, seeing Aizawa wince with every step they made and how he struggled with balance and it was because of his destructive quirk. He wouldn't mind and partially wanted Aizawa to live with him, where he'd be safe from his villain dad and potentially the league of villains. He would've offered to carry Aizawa but had a rather strong feeling the black-haired boy would be a little pissed or embarrassed at the mere suggestion.

"Okay." Yamada agreed to Aizawa's little whisper statement and Aizawa gave a thumbs up.

However, both boys gained the feeling that they were no longer alone. Aizawa mouthed these suspicions to Yamada, believing that they were being followed and he could test it. Just then Aizawa abruptly stopped walking and bent down.

"Oh! Neat! A quarter!" The black-haired boy pretended to pick something up and the other boy knew what he was doing, he stopped walking too, turning around to 'look at the other boy' and was faced with, surprisingly, no one. Aizawa got back to his feet, pretending to place something in his pocket then immediately returned to gripping his poor aching head as they walked. Yamada whispered that there was nobody behind them and they both sighed in relief and continued walking.

"Maybe my paranoia is increasing or something." The two boys nervously chuckled as they walked around the corner, just to be faced by the same hooded guy Aizawa had met two months ago, but the black-haired boy would never forget him.

"Ah! You brought a friend! And that little quarter trick? It was just as cute as you, Shota." The villain spoke and Aizawa got in front of Yamada, arms out, defensively and scowling.

"Stay away from him!" Aizawa hissed, instantly activating his quirk.

"He basically summoned us though!" The villain smirked.

" _'us'_?" The black-haired boy was starting to get increasingly fearful, but did his best to hide it.

"You thought it would just be me this time? I'm not letting you run away again, I wanna see how much I have to teach you." The man grinned wide with confidence as Aizawa closed his eyes and furiously rubbed them.

"Don't worry, Aizawa! I'll take them all out!" Yamada declared with a big grin.

 _Welp, maybe my hair and hands can cushion the blow and I can still-_

"Boy. Don't you realize the consequences of those actions? Shota right here is barely even a foot away from you and a blast from your quirk, after having already been hit by it and still recovering, that would surely cause some permanent damage. You care about him, don't you?" The villain reminded and Yamada's eyes widened.

"No! Yamada! Forget about me! I don't need my hearing to use my quirk anyway!" Aizawa hastily tried to tell the concerned blond as suddenly, the hooded man through a punch in Aizawa's direction. The boy swiftly dodged, but the harsh and fast movement hurt his head again.

"This will be an easy capture mission, especially with a simplistic quirk like erasure." Another villain appeared, then another, and another until the two boys were in a circle of bad guys.

"Shit." Aizawa muttered.

"I'm sorry Aizawa." Yamada muttered.

"It's not your fault. Now open up my backpack a bit." Aizawa muttered and Yamada obeyed.

"Listen to me!" Aizawa shouted to all the villains ready to pounce and were confused to see the boy shut his eyes and take a couple deep breaths before speaking again.

"I'm kinda exhausted right now, my head feels like its about to explode from pain so movement hurts a lot. I just think you guys might like to know how fragile I am right now." His shoulders relaxed and his hair, very gradually began to rise as he continued to take his deep breaths.

"What are you doing?! Why in the world would you tell them something like that?! Are you crazy?!" Yamada exclaimed, confused. All of the villains were rather dumbfounded as well.

Then his eyes shot open and his hair flew up, along with a long scarf that seemingly burst out of his bag from the small opening Yamada had made and it coiled around the boy, floating like a shield, his eyes glowing red as he scowled at the villains. He chose to play it safe and ran towards the villain with the only quirk he knew, mind-reading. He leapt into the air and launched his foot into the man's stomach until he heavily collided with the ground. With one man collapsed and writhing, this formed an opening in the circle, which Aizawa used as an opportunity before it could close and quickly snatched Yamada's wrist, yanking him out of the circle of villains. The two sprinted down the street, Aizawa eventually having to blink and Yamada saw both his hair and scarf go limp as they ran. Neither said a word until they finally stopped running to catch their breath and felt they had gotten a safe distance.

"Since when can you do that?" Yamada asked, in absolute shock.

"Since a couple months ago." Aizawa started stuffing the scarf back into his backpack.

"What's it for?" Yamada huffed, staring at it.

"It's supposed to be a capturing weapon. I can't really do that yet so I planned to just use intimidation and confusion to give us an opening. Sure enough, it worked. However, now, they know about it. They don't know exactly what it does but if they're relatively competent adults, they should be able to tell that it's a weapon of some kind, otherwise, why else would I have it in my backpack and be capable of controlling it?" Aizawa told him.

"If this becomes a regular occurrence, they'll stop underestimating us. We need to go to the police." Yamada told him.

"My dad would kill me if I did that." The black-haired boy bowed his head.

"Aizawa." Yamada tried to think up a way to reason with him.

"If I tell my dad what happened, he'll either be proud of me or say we need to pack up our things and move immediately or both. He's gonna be pissed at me when I walk in though, that's for sure, since I took so long." Aizawa rubbed his aching head and the back of his neck.

A pause followed.

"I-I'll try t-to h-he-help explain the situation to y-your d-dad." Yamada sighed, hands and legs shaking.

"No. I appreciate the offer. but no." Aizawa shook his head, then immediately regretted doing so and gripped it hard to try and recover once more from the continued severe aching. However, this was interrupted by the sounds of several people running. It came from just around the corner, where the two boys had originally ran from.

"Aizawa! We gotta run!" Yamada exclaimed, realizing it must be the villains. Aizawa glanced at the concrete wall beside them and leapt onto it. Once at the top, he reached his hand out for Yamada, who was gaping at Aizawa's strange ability but still managed to snap himself out of it and grabbed the hand. Aizawa heaved him up and over. When the villains made it around the corner, they saw two legs suddenly fall over a wall and into the trees.

If the boys fell, they would tumble down a hill.

They had entered a small 'forest', really just a square hill of trees, the thing separating it from the houses was a long 10ft concrete wall.

" _Alright, Yamada, I think it goes without saying that you need to be careful on these branches in order to keep from breaking or slipping off and we have to hurry. We need to go diagonally down. Can you follow me?"_ Aizawa whispered and Yamada anxiously nodded. Aizawa leapt to the nearest tree on the thickest branch and Yamada scooted inch by inch while Aizawa held his hand out for Yamada to grab.

 _I can only pray that mind-reading guy was and is still knocked unconscious from my kick. I wish I knew more about his quirk. Does it have a range? Not to mention those other guys. They'll likely stop underestimating us after this encounter. I have to think up a strategy, my first thought is to run away but then they'll find out where I live and they'll find dad and everything will fall apart. I don't know any of their quirks so I don't know who's the most dangerous. I'd like to utilize Yamada's quirk but thanks to that mind-reader bastard making him all guilty, he'll probably refuse to use it while I'm nearby. Think, Shota!_

Him and Yamada stopped moving from tree to tree in order for Aizawa to think a bit more clearly.

"What's wrong?" Yamada whispered. Aizawa ignored him.

 _Okay, I need to spread them out. I can't just run to Yamada's place, then HIS family will be attacked. I can't go to the police right now because it's a twenty minute walk and I can't run for that long with how weak I am now._ Aizawa whipped his head around, eyes glowing red and hair flewn up and it seemed one of them had an invisibility quirk since someone he recognized from that circle appeared out of nowhere on one of the branches a few trees behind the two.

"Yamada, stay here." Aizawa ordered.

"What are you gonna do?!" Yamada hissed, terrified as Aizawa closed his eyes and started taking deep breaths then when his red eyes shot open and his flew up once more, the scarf shot out of the backpack and coiled around him, floating as he was erasing the quirk of the invisible guy.

He leapt towards the man, ready to attack but the man jumped out of the way just in time and Aizawa ended up throwing himself into the thick branch at full force, knocking the wind out of him and making him blink.

"Aizawa!" Yamada cried out and the black-haired boy began to slide off the branch but managed to be jolted awake and he grabbed the branch he nearly fell off then started to swing on it, closing his eyes, calming down and taking deep breaths again before using the momentum from his swinging to launch himself to another branch. However, the man had turned invisible again.

"Yamada, do you know which way he was going?" Aizawa frantically looked all around, having to activate his quirk to keep his scarf from potentially getting tangled around him since it was draping nearly his whole body when he blinked when it's supposed to return to his shoulders, but it had a habit of getting messy during times of stress and would tangle. He hastily focused and manually fixed it.

"No. The minute you blinked he went invisible again." Yamada informed and Aizawa cursed under his breath, trying to hide his fear, but Yamada could see it in his eyes that he was just as scared as him.

"At least I know this guy's quirk but this terrain is really dangerous and the other villains could be causing havoc." Aizawa mentioned, nibbling his thumb.

"That's what they want you to think. If they're causing any damage, the police will come, or a real pro hero! We're not even allowed to use our quirks against others." Yamada reminded.

"Unless they deserve it." Aizawa casually remarked.

"Maybe it won't be so hard to make you a villain after all." The two boys heard a sinister voice behind them. They jolted at the abrupt interruption but as Aizawa was whipping his head around to erase his quirk, the boy's terribly aching head received a hard punch to it and a dart punctured his thigh and the boy went limp. Yamada was frozen, speechless and horrified at the sight.

The man tried to take Aizawa but was met with a hard kick to the ribs from Yamada. The blond picked up Aizawa and held the boy close to him.

Carrying Aizawa, easily, he continued to jump from tree to tree, eventually getting the hang of it.

 _Aizawa had it down instantly though! Does he do this often?!_

 _Oh man! We're reaching the end! What's waiting for us when we get there?_

The blond tried to think up a plan but had to keep focus on protecting Aizawa while he jumped from tree to tree, certain that the invisible guy was chasing them.

Yamada heard a sigh come from a Aizawa and looked down at him, smacking into a tree because of the distraction. He recovered quickly and saw Aizawa's blinking eyes.

"You're awake?! I thought that guy knocked you out!"

"He paralyzed me and put my head in some pretty agonizing pain. I wanted to ask if you have your phone on you." Aizawa mumbled, which Yamada barely heard. He quickly started feeling through each of his pockets and soon found it.

"Call the police." Aizawa sighed and Yamada assured him everything would be okay as he started dialing. He pressed the phone to his ear and continued leaping all from tree to tree, Aizawa in tow until they exited the small forest and landed on the sidewalk, tumbling to a halt. Yamada informed the officer on the phone of the situation and specified their location. The officer told him they'd send their officers to try and apprehend the villains and would also try to get in contact with a hero near that area. Yamada hung up, placed the phone in his pocket then decided to carry Aizawa in his arms so he could cradle the aching head.

The street was totally empty aside from a few parked cars and it was completely silent, other than the sound of his own panting breath of exhaustion.

 _I'm just a dumb little kid, holding another little kid, tired, panicking, no hero training whatsoever, how am I supposed to get out of this? The street looks empty but if they really want Aizawa and he's in such a weak state, now is the best chance, there's no way they'd back off just because I'm here, unless they're afraid of my voice. I can't use my quirk though. I want to keep him safe, not increase his pain! I wanna be strong like him! If only I could just place him somewhere safe!_

"He'll be safe with us." The hooded man came around the corner and walked towards them. Yamada noticed Aizawa's dull face turn to one of rage.

"You're able to walk?" Aizawa asked.

"You overestimate yourself. Now then, why don't you just make this quick and simply hand him over now?" The man requested and Yamada took a couple steps back.

"Stay away from us!" Yamada just barely raised his voice.

 _I just have to stall until the police or a hero shows up._

"That's your plan? Stalling?" The man asked and Yamada's eyes widened.

"You can read minds?!" The blond stared at him, paranoid but also partially relieved that he now knew the guy's quirk upon seeing him nod, then he started running towards the boys. Yamada was quick to turn around and run, just to be met with all those other villains that had been in that circle ready to fight Aizawa.

He came to a halt as they almost instantly surrounded the two.

"Now then, hand over Shota if you value your life." The hooded villain demanded, smirking.

"Just do it, Yamada. It'll get worse for you if you don't and I don't want you to suffer." Aizawa muttered to the shaking blond and Yamada was shocked at this statement.

"No, no way." He started,

"take me instead!" Yamada proclaimed and all the villains were left awestruck at this boys selflessness and soon smirked at him.

"He would make for a pretty damn good weapon." One of the other villains pointed out, much to Aizawa's horror.

"NO! Leave him out of this!" Aizawa fought and struggled to try and regain his ability of movement but his efforts failed. Yamada wasn't entirely sure how to react to seeing Aizawa fighting so hard to try and protect him despite his current condition.

"You sure are talkative tonight and eager, Shota." One of the female villains snickered in amusement.

"Tonight? So that means-..., how long have you bastards been following me and how much do you know?!" Aizawa demanded, scowling but it still unsettled Yamada, even moreso than just being in the presence of villains in general, the fact that Aizawa seemed so calm around them and the boy knew why but a chill still ran down his spine.

"You'll have to come with us to find out." The hooded villain said.

"Then I guess I'll never know." Aizawa casually turned his eyes away from them, smirking.

"Smug. So certain that you'll never be caught. And before you say it, we already know the police are on their way along with whatever heroes are in the area and that's why we're going to talk some place a little more private." The hooded man grinned then turned to one of his other colleagues and nodded and the colleague nodded back. He snapped his fingers and then a bubble started to form around everyone. However, the bubble ceased its growth when a strange yellow sludge was launched from, seemingly out of nowhere, hit a few of the villains and fastened them tightly to the ground, almost fusing them to it.

A hero had arrived!

Sirens came a couple seconds after.


	8. Chapter 8

"Don't worry, you boys are safe now." The entered the illumination of the street light and darted to the two boys, snatching them up when she saw one of the villains snap his fingers and a bubble began forming around them again. The hero picked up the two and went to the police.

"Aiz-...Sh-Shota's paralyzed!" Yamada gestured to the black-haired boy in his own arms.

 _Huh. Guess he's not so stupid after all._ Aizawa thought.

Yamada wasn't completely certain if the police and heroes knew the Incinerator's full real name, but if they knew his last name was Aizawa, then calling the black-haired boy by the same last name might give away his identity.

" _Thanks."_ Aizawa whispered as quietly as possible, but Yamada barely managed to hear it. His green eyes lowered to him and he saw the boy baring a tiny smile, to which Yamada smiled back.

"We'll take him to the hospital." The hero told him once they got to the officers.

They separated the boys, much to their dismay, escorting Yamada home and taking Aizawa to the hospital.

 _Shit._ The black-haired boy thought, knowing they would ask for emergency contact information and the only way he could be discharged is by his father.

 _This is gonna be difficult._ _If only Yamada had told them I was asleep and his little brother or something or ugh, dammit! And dad can't pick me up either! This is all his fault for demanding I come home after sundown! That dumbass. Just because he hasn't met the person I'm spending the night with, doesn't automatically make them a villain! And now, the moment I get home, he's probably gonna break my sensitive arm for worrying him so much._

 _I don't think I've ever been in a hospital before._

For Yamada, he was dreading returning home because he was fully aware his parents would blame themselves for their son getting into such trouble and possibly needing therapy. He was glad that he managed to remain calm enough to avoid the instinct of just instantly running for home though. The villains don't know his address but Yamada's feelings of concern spread from his parents to Aizawa when reminding himself of the conversation they had.

 _They've been watching Aizawa for far longer than he thought. Than both of us thought. That's more than just unsettling. I have to tell the police! There's gotta be a way to do this without it pissing off him or...Incinerator...oh man...what if he comes after me?! The Incinerator could kill me if I give too many details about this! But if it's to protect Aizawa-! Oh man, and what if the villains try to take him while he's asleep in his hospital bed?! But they were apprehended though, right? Hopefully. I didn't see it but it's more than likely that hero and all those other officers arrested them and put them in custody and now we're all totally safe. Right? Aizawa will be fine! But, aw jeez, his dad must be basically confined to their house if he's a villain. He can't just go and pick up Aizawa from the hospital, he'll be recognized, probably. How long has he been retired? Not when Aizawa was born since I saw him on the news once. If Aizawa had a cellphone and we had exchanged numbers this would be so much easier!_ Yamada ranted in his head as they drove to and stopped at his house in the police car. Him and the officer went up to the door and rang the doorbell while a knot formed in Yamada's stomach as though he had been caught committing a crime.

Yamada's father answered the door and was speechless at the sight.

They entered the house and Yamada's father went to his bedroom to retrieve his sleeping wife so she could get this explanation from their son and officer. He brought the drowsy woman with him and once she fully woke up and ceased the exact same panicking Yamada displayed in front of the group of villains, the two proceeded to explain everything to the best of their ability to Yamada's parents with Yamada himself using sign language for his mother. When they stopped talking, his parents glanced at each other then made an abrupt decision.

"Okay, we're moving." His father said, his mother saying the exact same thing in sign language.

"Wha-? No! Please! Ai-...um, Shota! I need to protect him! I have to stay by his side!" Yamada told them and his hands moved very fast. His mother understood what he was saying but just barely.

"It seemed the villains weren't targeting him, but it would be wise to play it safe and at least move far from the area." The officer interjected and Yamada's father relayed the information to his wife who nodded without a second thought. Only Yamada had objections.

"We'll remain outside the house as a precaution so you all can go back to sleep." The officer told them and Yamada's father once again relayed the statement in sign language. Yamada and his mother nodded. The officer bowed and departed from the house.

Yamada couldn't sleep the whole night, thoughts of Aizawa and worrying about him kept him awake.

Meanwhile,

Aizawa was remaining mute, keeping his eyes closed, trying to pretend the dart that paralyzed him actually knocked him out so he wouldn't be able to answer questions, at least until morning. They took some blood, checked his heartbeat and temperature and laid him in a bed to sleep. He heard a door shut and began to contemplate his circumstances.

 _Okay, I still can't move a muscle. There's surely a camera or two in the room and it's so quiet but I feel like I'm not alone. Most likely they have a police officer in the room with me or it could be a nurse. I'm hooked up to something by my arm. It shouldn't take long to figure out that something's wrong with my blood and that's why I can't move. Now those villains know it has an immediate effect on me but that might have something to do with how weak I already was thanks to Yamada's quirk._

 _...Yamada..._

 _He's gonna be a target now too, because of me._

 _Because I got careless and wasn't vigilant enough._

 _If I had been more aware of my surroundings, those bastards wouldn't have found us!_

 _Dammit!_

 _At least they were immobilized and presumably apprehended but I still don't know all of their quirks and what about that bubble guy? It was starting to form around us, I think it's safe to assume it's a form of teleportation. However, did that hero's weird sludge really stop his quirk or could he still use it on himself then me and potentially Yamada? I can erase his quirk and reveal my identity or, if there is an officer in here, he might be able to handle it if teleportation is his only ability._

 _That mind-reader guy was smug but I never actually fought him. I can't judge either of them fully until I've actually been in a one-on-one fight with them and that's exactly what they want, I'd be playing right into their hands. I might be able to handle the mind-reader guy as long as I keep my quirk activated so he can't predict my moves but if I'm too close to the bubble guy, he could possibly teleport me to their base or whatever. Then there's that invisible asshole who shot me with that damned dart! Those three alone are too much for me to handle and there were, at least six or seven! The invisible guy was far more agile than me, despite my light weight. I was too busy focusing on coming up with a strategy and the lighting was obviously poor due to all the trees but now that I think about it, he did seem to be armed with brightly colored darts when I could cancel his quirk and we were in some fair lighting. The invisible guy seems to be the villain version of myself. Remaining hidden, attacking from a distance which I'll try to do once I control my scarf, he went exclusively for sneak attacks which is perfect for his quirk. He's what I aim to be as a hero, it feels wrong seeing these traits be used by a villain but at least some part of this reveals that it can be successful...then again...it was being used against just two little middle school boys so that's not saying much._

 _The invisible guy is the one I should see as the strongest though. He has more than one trick up his sleeve. I'll have to dodge darts that'll come out of nowhere, he's extremely fast so it'll be harder to erase his quirk consistently and there's no way I can catch him with my scarf while I'm avoiding his damned darts, I'll lose focus then blink. Though, it's not like he has an infinite supply._

 _But I can't forget about the other villains too! Jeez and if Yamada is there, which I pray to God he isn't, I have to take into account his safety as well. I just hope that the inevitable next encounter will be after I've recovered from Yamada's shriek and he can let loose. The tricky part is finding a way to convince him to use it while I'm around. If we do end up following our dreams and going to U.A. Together, he's gonna have to learn to get over it in order to progress and focus on the big picture._

 _It's gonna be a long road ahead for us._

Aizawa gradually found himself slowly drifting to sleep until the officer in the room heard him start snoring.

When morning came along, the boy discovered that he had regained full mobility of his body as he stretched and looked around and immediately regretted making a move because the nurse walked in just half a minute later. The events of the previous night were blurry to him, so he thought it was a dream and was rather disappointed to find that it was, in fact, real.

 _Shit._ He thought as the nurse began asking questions.

Meanwhile,

Yamada was escorted to school by the police. He had the vivid memory of last night playing in his mind like it was on loop yet it felt almost unreal to him but still terrifying. He was visibly trembling in class and Aizawa didn't show up, so he had to suffer alone. Despite the fact that nothing happened to the blond, he kept thinking about every time Aizawa winced and held his aching head and how it's all his fault he got paralyzed.

 _His dad can't pick him up from the hospital. I don't know where or who his mom is. I was given super strict orders to go straight home the very moment school ends so he's essentially stuck there._

He was on the verge of tears, clenching his fists and keeping his head down on his desk, not saying a word to anybody.

Some kids seemed to notice Aizawa's absence and said nothing.

A majority of the class noticed Yamada's quietness though and asked him what was wrong.

They received no answer.

Yamada kept staring at the classroom door, hoping and waiting for Aizawa to just walk in, apologize for being late in his usual dull dismissive attitude, then sit down in the empty seat on the blond's left. He'd yawn then fall asleep on his desk like nothing happened. Yamada wouldn't mind taking a class-nap but his thoughts of Aizawa continued to plague him.

 _Oh God, what if that dart has other effects?! It could be something specially crafted by the villains in order to apprehend Aizawa, like a poison that only THEY could cure if he came with them!_

When lunch time arrived, Yamada grabbed his lunch and exited the suffocating classroom full of other students who formerly bullied his friend and he just simply wanted to be alone so he made his way to the roof. The blond ignored all orders to stay inside and close to, at least, one other person, he needed some fresh air and needed to get away from everyone for a little bit.

 _Is this how Aizawa feels all the time?_

When the boy got to the roof, he exhaled a heavy sigh of relief at the calm quiet breeze.

He walked towards and sat on the bench and as he began to open up his lunch, his face grew hot.

Tears welled in his eyes when he started to stare at the empty space on the bench beside him.

He dropped his lunch, spilling it everywhere but he couldn't care less, he wasn't hungry anyway as the tears streamed down his red face. Yamada cupped his mouth tightly to keep himself from wailing.

 _It was my fault._

Just then, the door to the roof opened.

"Yamada? I had a feeling you'd be here, sorry I'm late."

 _Aizawa._

Yamada shot up from the bench and turned to face the unforgettably and predictably dismissive bored voice and was ecstatic to see the familiar black-haired boy looked perfectly normal. However, the other bared the countenance of concern now as Aizawa jogged over to Yamada.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?" He asked and wiped a few tears away.

"I was really scared and worried about you is all." Yamada sniffled and they both sat down on the bench together. Aizawa sighed with slouched shoulders and nervously began messing with his hair again and there was a brief silence.

"My hearing is fixed and the migraine is gone and the paralyzer wore off completely after some sleep." Aizawa assured and leaned forward, Yamada watched as his black locks flowed with the wind and it was captivating, making him blush slightly.

"I'm glad you feel better. How did you get discharged though?" Yamada finally popped the question and Aizawa groaned, bowing his head once more. Eventually he regained normal posture, leaning back on the bench instead and after taking a few deep breaths, he spoke.

"I told them the truth." Aizawa muttered, his sentence was punctuated by a heavy gust of wind, when it settled, he turned to Yamada, saw his shocked face and turned away.

"I had no choice. I had to tell the nurse who my legal guardian was, first and last name and there was a policeman in the room for protection. The guy clearly recognized the name and started staring at me intently and noticed the family resemblance. After the nurse left and me and the officer chatted for a while...ugh..., long story short, I'm getting removed. I think I'm gonna be in Hosu but, obviously, they told me not to tell anyone that so...try not to tell anyone I told you." Aizawa put a finger to his lips to emphasize that Yamada needs to keep quiet about this and he begrudgingly nodded.

"Fine. Do you have a cellphone though? When you leave, I wanna be able to talk to you. There's no one else here I can do that with." Yamada asked, hopeful and Aizawa shook his head.

"Nah. But you can still give me your number for when I DO get a cellphone." The black-haired boy told him and Yamada lit up with excitement.

"When we get back to class, I'll use my notebook and write it down for you." The blond eagerly stated.

"Actually, you should probably just run and bring it back. We're leaving as soon as possible but I told them I wanted to see you one last time." Aizawa muttered, looking away, clearly embarrassed and was then pulled abruptly into a big warm hug by Yamada.

"Don't say that! You make it sound like we'll never see each other again!" Yamada exclaimed, the two boys blushed.

"Let's promise to keep improving ourselves while we're apart. We'll _both_ be heroes." Aizawa said with a tiny smile, pulling away from the hug to tuck some messy hair behind his ear.

"Yeah!" Yamada grinned which then lowered to a regular kind smile.

"I'll miss you a lot,...Shota." Yamada said then noticed Aizawa's smile fading.

"S-sorry! I-I-I meant Ai-Aizawa!" Yamada hastily corrected.

"Heh, 'ya know, it's funny." Aizawa started and Yamada tilted his head in confusion.

"Only people I've hated have called me by my first name so I started to associate it with them and hate the name but it seems to sound a lot better from your mouth. So, I think I actually prefer 'Shota' if it's you." Aizawa explained, hiding his increasingly reddening face with his hair which Yamada found to be incredibly adorable.

"Sure! And you can call me Hizashi!" The blond grinned again.

"Really? Cool." Aizawa smirked and Yamada hugged him once more.

"Ya-Hizashi! There are only so many hugs I am willing to tolerate!" The black-haired boy grumbled.

Reluctantly the blond let go and Aizawa brushed himself off.

"So, you gonna give me your number or what?" He smirked again and Yamada's head perked up.

"Oh! Right! I'll be back!" He darted for the door and down the stairs.


	9. Chapter 9

Aizawa sat alone on the bench and blew up the lock of hair over his face. He remained silent for a while, leaning back and staring at the clouds.

"I can't believe I'm really leaving." He mumbled.

 _I can't believe that cop got that info out of me so easily. Dammit all and just as I was starting to like it here, they had to go and ruin it! Hosu is pretty far. I'll have to be transferred to a different school, obviously so my commute will change. But what about Yamada or rather Hizashi?_

Aizawa pondered and within a minute's time, Yamada burst back through the door to the roof, jolting the black-haired boy, ripping him out of his deep train of that and he almost fell off the bench.

"Ah! Hizashi!" Aizawa glared at the panting blond who was only confused at his anger.

"What?" He breathed. Aizawa smacked his forehead and groaned.

"Well anyway! I got the notepad!" The blond exclaimed happily as he ran towards Aizawa, sat down and scribbled down his number, then handed it to the other boy.

Aizawa took the piece of paper and read the numbers he saw aloud to make sure it was correct since Yamada had written it so quickly, he nodded and grinned.

"Why don't we try to make arrangements so that we can be close again? Or at least in the same school or-?" Yamada started ranting.

"I'm not gonna get a cellphone until I'm settled, I'm also not supposed to tell anyone anything at all." Aizawa cut him off and Yamada's shoulder's slouched.

"So I've already broken that rule. I just felt you should be informed on the situation. I didn't want to leave you in the dark." Aizawa added.

"This villain encounter really seemed to bring us together." Yamada commented.

"The next time we meet, I hope it won't be because of another one." Aizawa muttered.

"Yeah. I wanna bond over other stuff, like cats!" Yamada said.

"Definitely. I wouldn't mind visiting your place for that purpose alone." Aizawa told him.

"Really?" Yamada blushed.

"It honestly shocked me that you weren't lying about having a cat or your mom being deaf. You haven't lied to me even once. I had convinced myself that you were with the villains and that's why I avoided you and feared you, because I thought I'd be abducted if I got close to you. However, turns out, I was wrong, really wrong, you were just looking out for me. I'm sorry and thank you, Hizashi." Aizawa explained, looking away. When he turned back to face him, he saw that Yamada's whole face was bright red with his jaw slightly agape and eyes wide.

"Uh, Hizashi? Are you alright?" He added, tilting his head, dumbfounded at Yamada's reaction.

"Wha-? Ah, um, uh, y-yeah! Yeah, I'm totally fine!" Yamada quickly answered, rubbing the back of his neck while Aizawa stared at him quizzically.

"Just, uh, you're, you're welcome, Shota." Yamada said nervously and couldn't help pulling him into another hug that Aizawa resisted.

"Hizashi! Stop hugging me! It's embarrassing!" Aizawa objected.

"Oh come on, nobody's watching!" Yamada told him.

"The guards are!" Aizawa hissed, cheeks starting to redden.

"I can't help it! You're too cute and adorable!" Yamada countered and Aizawa turned as red as him.

Aizawa groaned in aggravation, as well as severe embarrassment.

"Okay, fine." Yamada sighed and released Aizawa from his grasp and the black-haired merely glared.

"Are you done with the affection?" His voice had reverted back to its dead-panned tone but he was still blushing which made Yamada a little happy. The blond sadly nodded.

"Yes." He told him and watched the much smaller boy stand from the bench and fix up his uniform, mumbling to himself.

"Good. And bye, for now." Aizawa waved dismissively and almost immediately, tears started welling in Yamada's eyes. Aizawa's eyes widened and he started anxiously looking around with uncertainty as to what exactly he should do.

"Hizashi, come on! You're making this a lot harder than it needs to be." Aizawa pouted as he wiped the tears from Yamada's eyes, still clearly unsure if he was comforting Yamada the right way.

"I'm just gonna miss you." He sniffled and found it a little comedic how Aizawa kept going back and forth between looking around, an his worried or partially panicked expression. Clearly comforting was a new task for him.

"Yeah, I'll miss you too. But, oh come on." Aizawa groaned again, embarrassed then offered his hand to Yamada to help him off the bench.

Yamada placed his hand in Aizawa's and he brought him to his feet.

"I'm not just gonna leave you alone on this roof." Aizawa let go of his hand and reached into his backpack, pulling out part of his scarf and used it to wipe Yamada's face then stuffed the scarf back in, grabbed his hand again and proceeded to leave the roof where they met up with the two officers who had been standing by the door the whole time.

"Ready to go?" One asked. Yamada lowered his head, shoulders slouched.

"First I'm taking him back to class." Aizawa said and they all went down the stairs.

"Shota, you're acting like an escort." Yamada chuckled.

"I'm just glad you stopped crying." Aizawa bluntly responded, rolling his eyes.

When they reached the classroom, this time it was Aizawa who pulled Yamada into a tight embrace.

"Again, thanks a lot, Hizashi and I'm sorry. Remember, you need to get a handle on your quirk, I'm not gonna be able to stop anyone's ears from bleeding and I want you to both become a hero and make friends besides me. Bye." The black-haired boy let go of the blond and found him to be crying again. Aizawa was about to try and comfort him again but felt his shoulders get tapped and the officers ushered him away from the sobbing boy. It left a knot in Aizawa's stomach that he couldn't leave on a happy note, looking behind himself as he walked, ignoring whatever he may bump into.

He watched Yamada sniffle, wiping his face with his sleeve, keeping his head bowed and his fists shook like they were ready for combat or he was just frustrated over something. It was a worrisome sight for Aizawa but he eventually faced forward again once Yamada actually entered the classroom.

Just like whenever school ended: the moment Shota left, he seemingly vanished.

At least Yamada knew he was in Hosu somewhere.

He told his parents nearly every detail and that he wanted to move there, but they felt they should move in the opposite direction.

When the two boys were together, it made the situation perfect for the villains to kidnap two kids who had incredibly useful quirks. Sure, those villains were incarcerated but who's to say the rest of the league won't come after them? Or maybe the league of villains has shrunk significantly. They could only hope this was the case but still moved far away from Shota.

They moved into an apartment complex and had Yamada start taking self-defense classes. His commute to school was a bit longer so his parents always drove him to and from school as another precaution.

Without Shota, though, he was far more quiet in school. He had plenty of friends, mostly because he didn't tell them the details about his quirk and hardly got excited about anything. He had to restrain himself, put a leash on his own quirk and hide it. All the boy had told them was that he could yell pretty loud and wanted to be a pro hero, he left out the window shattering and ear bleeding effect. This seemed to work fairly well for making friends but in remembrance to what Shota told him about how he needed to control his quirk in order to be a pro hero, not just to make friends.

 _I'll have to practice that too but, where can I practice a quirk like mine without disturbing the entire city? It's been over a month and I've only done half of what he said! I need to figure out a way to get a handle on it! I don't want to accidentally hurt someone again._

He groaned, earning the attention of a few classmates sitting closest to him.

"What's wrong, Yamada?" One of the boys asked.

"Just thinking about some things." He sighed, somberly.

"Aw, c'mon Yamada! You can tell us!" The girl beside him shook his shoulder.

"It's about my friend from my last school." Yamada told them, he had a feeling that being silent and constantly aloof like Shota was might lead to getting bullied and the blond didn't need anything else on his mind to worry about, so he went with honesty.

"Missing your old school?" The girl asked.

"Not really. Just him." He bluntly answered.

"What was he like?" The girl was beginning to get curious and invested, placing her elbows on his desk and Yamada didn't hesitate to tell the truth about him.

"He was really cool, sleepy, adorable, and despite how cute and small he was, he was really strong and smart. I worried about him a lot and still do. I just wanna protect him and keep him safe and stay by his side but that couldn't happen." Yamada lamented, resting his head on his desk.

"Sounds like you like him." The girl giggled, unknowing of what the two boys had gone through.

"I like him as a friend." Yamada began blushing and turned his face away from the girl so she couldn't see his reddening cheeks and comment on it.

"Oh really?" She activated her quirk and smirked.

"Then why is your face so hot?" She asked and Yamada's shoulders jolted as he remembered the girl could see heat.

 _If only Shota were here to erase that quirk._ _Then I could blush all I want._

"No reason!" He quickly excused and the girl was amused.

"I may not have seen this other guy but I bet you two would make an adorable couple!" She grinned. Yamada fidgeted in his seat, getting flustered and unsure how to even respond, he swiftly turned away and grabbed his lunch and left the classroom.

He went towards the roof.

Once up there and sitting on the nearest bench, he pulled out his phone and checked the Missed Calls but found nothing for today. No unknown numbers called him while his phone was off during class. He then decided to go online and check something, look up something he had been curious about for the past month but never had the guts to actually search for.

" _The Incinerator"_.

There wasn't a ton known about him besides his quirk, costume, hair and only a few who could tell that his eyes were crimson. His appearance was dull and forgettable, nothing flashy. Not even the other villains in the league could give hardly a couple sentences on his personality because he hardly ever showed up to their base and when he did show up, he was stoic and mute. Only Shota knew of his true personality and it wasn't pretty, as one would expect from a villain.

Yamada found in his searches that the Incinerator was currently in jail. Luckily, nothing mentioned him having a child, so Shota remained hidden. It put a small smile of relief to Yamada's face. He wanted to make sure the other villains hadn't escaped too but he didn't know their names. The boy tried to by simply looking up "league of villains" and hoping it might give him a list of their names. The blond was curious and worried, he was aware that they had no idea where he and Shota were but still!

 _If there's a guy with any type of teleportation ability, me and Shota should still be on guard. But if they knew where we were, I'm sure they would've caught us by now. Well, how would I know if they caught Shota? Maybe they have him already._

Yamada remembered Shota telling him the list of various torture methods and gulped in fear for him.

 _I pray not. But if they really do have him, he'd be on the news as 'the new Incinerator' or something, right? Or maybe he's still in training with those guys? That mind-reader guy showed an interest in the idea of training us or just him. I should look up if there are any Missing children lately._

Chills ran down his spine as he typed in his search on his phone.

"Alright, he's not there. That's still a longer list than I thought it'd be, though." Yamada stared at it in concern.

"And the police may not have disclosed all of them yet for this month. There still lies the possibility that Shota was taken by them. But I can't just go around late at night looking for him. That's how we got in that mess in the first place and we do not need a repeat. Come on, think, Hizashi!" Yamada told himself, frustrated.

 _Maybe I could figure out which school Shota's going to in Hosu and try to transfer there on my own?_ He pondered, stroking his chin, then began thinking about just Shota.

 _I wonder if he's eating properly. Maybe he's made some progress with the scarf or maybe he hasn't had the time to focus on it? Did he have another family member he's currently staying with? I bet I could take him on in a fight now at this point. I can only hope whoever he's staying with isn't villainous like his dad, I'm partially glad I never met him. But it's been a whole month! He should be settled by now and get a phone! Please tell me he didn't lose my number. Then in that case, the next time we meet would be the entrance exam to U.A. And that's more than two and a half years away! I at least wanna visit him between that time! See his progress. I just wanna know how he's been doing..._

 _I wanna be with him._

The blond barely ate any of his lunch. All he did was think of and worry about Shota.

Meanwhile,

Shota had finally been placed in the custody of his aunt. His father's sister, whom had a very thorough background check done on her. She was a civilian, never a hero, never a villain, raised two children who went on to be accountants, has a smoking habit but is trying to quit by chewing gum, and has 5 cats, much to Shota's delight, and she worked at a nearby convenience store. Shota finally got a cellphone that he was told to carry around with him at all times so he could call the police in case "things got bad". He got settled rather easily and quickly.

His aunt would walk him to and from school. The police keeping a rather close eye on them, checking in nightly until they decided the threat was truly gone and Shota was safe with his aunt. Their check-ups became less and less frequent before finally ceasing all together.

Shota's aunt was rather 'laid back', a little too laid back.

By the time the two month period came along, she seemed to have basically forgotten her nephew was living with her since she stopped caring or didn't even notice if Shota came home a little later than usual and would buy food for one person instead of two. She'd constantly just eat out without telling Shota when there was nothing in the kitchen, but at least the bruises from his father were gone. Shota would clean the apartment and take care of the cats and at one point blew up at his aunt, forcing her to acknowledge his presence. She just threatened to kick him out, walking over to the front door, opening it, then gesturing for him to leave, making the claim that she's putting a roof over his "ungrateful head" and he should thank her. Shota just went to his room, pulled out his phone, and finally called Hizashi.

"Hello?" Hizashi had yet to get a call from Shota and so, the number on his screen was unfamiliar.

"Uh, hey, Hizashi. It's-"

"SHOTA!" The blond cut off the black-haired one, who had to swiftly distance his ear from the phone.

"Um, yeah. Sorry I didn't call." Shota nervously played with his hair.

"It's fine. So how've you been? How's the scarf practice?" Hizashi wondered.

"I practice a lot longer now and nearly every day so my progression is pretty good. I can move it a bit faster and lift myself with it but I'm still at risk of getting tangled into a scarf cocoon, it's happened...twice." Shota chuckled, resulting in Hizashi chuckling at his own imagination of it.

"What about fighting?"

"I'm trying not to overdo things. It'd be cool if I could learn how to flip a guy but I'm satisfied with the stuff I've got now." He told him casually, relaxing much more at the sound of Hizashi's voice. Just then, Shota's stomach grumbled, it managed to be loud enough for Hizashi to hear.

"Shota, I've been worrying a lot about you and one of those worries included whether or not you were on a balanced diet or just eating in general. Tell me the truth, who are you staying with and are they feeding you?!" Hizashi demanded.

"You sound like a nagging mother right now, Hizashi." Shota groaned.

"Answer. Me." Hizashi ordered. The other boy sighed in aggravation.

"My aunt and she feeds me fine! I just chose not to eat lunch." A pause followed and Shota started to feel guilty already.

"Ugh. Sorry. No. That wasn't the truth. I just really don't wanna leave this place, I don't care if my aunt starves me." His stomach grumbled again.

"Why? Because you don't wanna go through the trouble of moving again?" Hizashi wondered.

"No. I hardly had any belongings to take with me." He shook his head.

"Then what?" The blond tried to think up guesses and possibilities.

"Cats." Shota bluntly answered.

"What." Hizashi glared at his phone.

"She has _five cats_ and they're SO. DAMN. CUTE! Two of them are kittens, Hizashi! And I get to cuddle them when I go to bed! How can I pass that up and just call CPS?! Come ON!" Shota exclaimed and Hizashi had a strong feeling the black-haired boy was grinning and blushing as he talked about his passion.

"Shota. Your love for cats will be your demise." Hizashi tried to reason.

"So be it! I don't mind dying by paw!" Shota pouted.

"If it makes you feel better, I'll try to steal some of the old lady's savings so I can get a cup of ramen and an energy drink. I have homework to do anyway." He added. Hizashi groaned and rubbed his temples in aggravation towards Shota's behavior.

"Fine. Anyway, how's school been for 'ya?" Hizashi asked.

"It feels so awkward and uncomfortable, having several people coming up to me, wanting to be my friend and being nice to me. It just feels wrong." Shota told him.

"You're acting like it's a bad thing. How did you respond?" Hizashi was turning into a therapist.

"I instinctively ended up scowling at them fiercely and terrified them. They backed off. I didn't feel my hair raise though so it seems I frighten people even without the use of my quirk." Shota forced a bit of a laugh but Hizashi had a feeling he was slightly disheartened to know this.

"Does your aunt allow guests?" Hizashi instantly tried to lighten the mood and Shota knew where he was going with this.

"I dunno if the other people in my apartment complex would be too fond of a guest like you if you got too excited or upset and lost control again." His voice reverted back to its former dull and emotionless state.

"You live in an apartment, too?" Hizashi asked.

"Yeah, so I take it this means you've been practicing keeping your volume down?" Shota asked back.

"Yeah! I'm way more quiet now!" Hizashi told him.

"Bullshit." Shota rolled his eyes.

"Hey! Don't forget, I have my own cat, you think I'm gonna be loud and yelling while she's around?!" Hizashi reasoned and Shota scoffed.

"Or maybe, why don't you come to my place again, despite how much I'd like to cuddle some of your cats and kittens. You'd actually get a good meal from my mom." Hizashi proposed.

"A very tempting offer but-...uh." Shota tried to think of reasons against it.

"But what? Your aunt doesn't feed you." Hizashi reminded.

 _And she doesn't give a shit if I'm in or out._ Shota thought.

"I, uh, I guess I can." Shota told him hesitantly.

"AWESOME!" The black-haired boy had to quickly pull the phone a safe distance from his ear. He deeply wished he could erase Hizashi's quirk over the phone.

"Ugh. Yeah, yeah, just text me your new address and I'll see you next weekend." Shota grumbled.

"Sure! Definitely!" Hizashi exclaimed joyously.

Suddenly, the black-haired boy got a text. He opened it, looked at the address, stating what city he was in and he groaned.

"What's wrong?" Hizashi asked.

"God, that'll take forever." Shota whined.

"But whatever, see 'ya." He added, sighing, then hung up before Hizashi could say goodbye too.

Hizashi groaned at his friend's stubbornness and wished he could just live with him.

 _I am going to force him to take it easy while he's with us! It's for his own good!_ Hizashi decided as though a battle plan.


	10. Chapter 10

Meanwhile,

Shota had started to sneak out of his room, in search of some money.

He found a couple hundred yen under the couch and smirked.

 _Guess I don't need to search for her wallet._ He placed the yen in his pocket and casually, snatching his scarf along the way for safety, exited his apartment, going down several flights of stairs before reaching the bottom. The boy had learned his way around and so this trip to the convenience store should be generally short, not to mention the streets were fairly busy, morning and night. He kept his hands in his pockets to make sure his money didn't get snatched(since that happened on his first day). He received a couple strange looks regarding the scarf since it was such an abundant amount of cloth draping a boy's shoulders and it was pretty hot out, he was also wearing a black sweater and black sweatpants and a backpack for storage. He would be lying if he didn't say he was sweating.

He passed by several alleyways, glancing at all of them and he wasn't sure why.

 _Heh, maybe I could call this a patrol. It'll be harmless as long as I don't end up hurt._ He thought.

Shota finally reached the convenience store, though. He went in, bought the ramen and energy drink and placed it in his backpack, zipping it shut and then exiting the store without another word. He looked to his right and saw the heavily populated city, then turned to his left and saw the isolated and lonely looking street. Cars passed through but people no longer walked along that sidewalk.

The series of alleyways continued and Shota had his phone on but turned everything on mute as to not give away his location. He swallowed hard and, combining his hair with his clothing, he blended into the shadows with ease without even knowing it. He was terrified and shaking but kept reminding himself that this is the kind of stuff he'll do as a hero and he has to get used to it. His actions were irrational and foolish, he knew this. A child, with zero hero training, walking into danger was stupid and something Shota never thought he would do but his body was acting on its own, especially when he suddenly heard a shriek.

 _Sounds like a woman. Is she being robbed?_

Shota darted towards the sound, turning to face the alleyway it came from, his eyes immediately flared red, hair shot up and his scarf instantly started floating around him. He was hoping to scare the bad guy and get him to run away then once he entered better lighting, Shota would call the police and be able to give a detailed description of his appearance if his capture weapon didn't work.

He found the man was forcibly stripping her and Shota knew what was happening.

"Hey! Why can't I use my quirk?! Are you a hero? She doesn't need saving. She deserved this." The man slyly grinned and Shota shuttered, about to try and use his capture weapon on him but he had to blink. He saw the teen's tall hair and floating scarf suddenly fall limp as he furiously rubbed his eyes and felt his quirk return. He easily put two and two together.

"A rather weak hero who's pretty damn short and can barely control his own quirk. Must've gone to one of the lamer schools. Is that scarf supposed to intimidate me?" The man laughed hartily.

 _He really doesn't know I'm a child? He'll definitely know I am if I speak, though. I need all the underestimation I can get._

"I can control my quirk fine, but all quirks have their limits." Shota chose not to answer the scarf inquiry since the answer was technically yes.

"Ah, so you're a kid playing dress-up? Cute. Now get lost!" The man was losing his patience. Shota calmly removed his phone and started talking.

"Yeah. There's this guy trying to rape a woman in an alleyway and-." Before the boy could finish his sentence, the man ran towards the boy in a rage. Shota leapt above him in order to avoid an attack and landed in front of the woman to guard and protect her. He glanced behind himself at the half-stripped woman and told her everything would be okay, then turned back to the phone in his hand and gave their location. He had to shut his eyes though.

"YOU LITTLE SHIT!" The man yelled.

 _Okay, I can't really capture a moving target with this by simply using my quirk alone but maybe-..._

Shota didn't know what the man's quirk was but erased it anyway and leapt out of the way just as the man darted towards him again like a bull so he ended up running towards the woman instead. While Shota was in the air, he launched his scarf towards the man in remembrance to his practice in gym where he'd launch his scarf towards a railing at the ceiling, make it instantly swing over and shoot back to him. One of the many failed attempts to get the scarf to coil around his target but in this context, that failure to coil worked in his favor. It went right around him and returned to Shota's other hand, acting as reigns of perfect restraint, stopping the man right in his tracks and making him fall over. He gave the lady a small smile as he wiped the sweat from his forehead, finally blinking.

"Sorry for the scare. The police ought to be arriving soon." Shota told her calmly, panting a bit.

"Thank you so much!" She started tearing up. Shota abruptly started to drag the man a couple feet to throw off his balance when he started trying to stand up, then for good measure, kicked him in the stomach as hard as he could and finally sat him up a little bit so Shota could completely tie the man up with his scarf.

"This was eerily easy." Shota commented.

"His quirk makes his muscle strength increase times 10! I guess you can erase other people's quirks?" The woman asked, Shota nodded.

"Yeah but can you keep it a secret?" He requested and the woman nodded as well.

"Sure thing." She said.

Just then, sirens approached and before they knew it, officers had entered the scene and were quite confused to find that the boy who called to report the incident was the one who also took care of it since the man was already tied up, the boy holding onto the tail end of the scarf and, behind the boy was a woman, half-dressed. One officer came up to the boy, scratching his head.

"Uh, did you tie him up?" Shota nodded.

"Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if he's already being trained in heroics. He saved me." The woman tussled his messy black hair.

"This fucking brat just showed up out of nowhere with this floating scarf and standing hair and starts attacking me for no reason!" The bad guy tried to play innocent but received a kick in the side from Shota.

"You know damn well what you did! The second I pulled out my phone and called the police, he ran towards me. I dodged." Shota recapped, rolling his eyes, then proceeding to rub them. The nearest officer placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder.

"It's okay to cry, the situation was probably very frightening, we're sorry you had to go through-."

"I'm not crying." Shota lifted his head to look up at them with a raised eyebrow. They saw his eyes were rather dry and strained.

"It's his quirk." The criminal spoke up, chuckling and Shota jolted, scowling intensely at him.

"He can erase people's quirks and that's how the little shit beat me but the erasing seems to end when he closes his eyes." He mentioned and the boy had to restrain himself from beating the crap out of him. Once the handcuffs were placed on him, Shota took his scarf back, placing it back on and grumbled to himself then to the police.

"That bastard is probably going to tell everyone he meets in prison all about 'the little black-haired boy that can erase quirks'. Ugh." Shota pinched his temples then dragged his hand down his face.

"But at least you managed to be a hero, at least for one night." One officer told him.

"Villains are bound to eventually learn of your quirk and learn how to prepare against it." Another officer told him.

"Are you planning on becoming a pro hero?" A third officer asked. Shota nodded.

"Me and a close friend of mine share that dream." The boy said. The third officer then got on one knee so they could be eye to eye and gently grasped Shota's arms before speaking again.

"Well still, either way, there is very important the entire police force needs to tell you;

 _never_ do this again." The third officer stated, his smile; gone. In favor of intimidation to keep Shota away from their line of duty and make it very clear that using his quirk on others is, in fact, illegal unless it's in self-defense in which this case was but Shota shouldn't go looking for danger.

"It'll be great to work with a hero like you in your adult-hood but for now, it's not safe and we'd rather you stay out of trouble and at least _try_ to live long enough to get your hero license." The officer told him.

"I'll let this one slide, but if this happens again, I'm gonna have to contact your parental guardian."

Shota sighed, flipped off the criminal, slouched his shoulders, pocketed his hands, then walked back to the convenience store simply in search of eyedrops while he grumbled to himself.

 _Jeez! I save a girl and get punished for it! Not to mention the fight was hardly even a fight! He didn't lay a finger on me and I just restrained him and gave him a couple kicks, I didn't punch him or knock his teeth out or make him barf up anything. It was a harmless fight, barely even counts as a fight, yet, just because I used my quirk, suddenly I'm the bad guy too, I'm just not AS bad as him! UGH! And not all villains would know what my quirk is if I avoid the spotlight but either way, society can go to hell._

He continued this angry thought process all the way into the store and while he searched for the cheap little bottle. Once he found it, paid, and used it, his eyes finally felt refreshed and he began his walk home, stomach growling, ready to eat that ramen and drink his energy drink.

 _ **You're right, Shota. The system is broken. But you can help us fix it.**_


	11. Chapter 11

Shota stopped dead in his tracks, eyes wide open and he swore that, for a brief moment, his pulse went flat as he frantically looked around for any suspicious looking characters in the crowd of people that bumped past him on the sidewalk.

 _ **I'm nowhere near your line of sight, there's no erasing my quirk so why don't we have a friendly little chat?**_

 _GET OUT OF MY HEAD!_

 _ **How rude. I just want to be friends.**_

Shota had to act impulsively and without real strategy because the villain could surely hear his thought and so, he decided to turn back and walk away from his home and simply focus on his "talk" with the villain. It was the only 'strategy' he could come up with in such a short amount of time.

 _What do you want?_ He mentally asked while walking as slowly as possible.

 _ **What do I want? I just wish to discuss ideals! It seems we already share the same.**_

 _Then there's nothing to discuss._ The boy hoped his agreement might earn him mercy and that maybe, he'd be able to trick them and escape if they somehow capture him. He had to keep his strategies to a minimum, though as to make sure the villain in his head wouldn't hear it and be able to form a counter move.

He had to be smart and dumb at the same time if he wanted to escape this. However, soon, the villain stopped talking to him in his head and the boy was left in complete silence as he raised his guard and activated his quirk, his hair flying up and scarf floating around him.

He leapt onto the roof of the nearest convenience store, then began to plot.

 _That mind-reader guy from last time wasn't able to communicate with me or Hizashi through our heads so this must be a different one._ _The mind-reader guy could still be in jail or he chose not to come or he's after Hizashi. Bastard._

 _At least that idiot can protect himself with his quirk now that I'm here. But more than likely, the telepath has others with him scattered about._

 _I can't just go home now, that would lead them right to my door. God dammit I'm tired. There are still a lot of people close by, it's not as isolated as last time so there's the risk of a hostage situation._

 _I should call the police again but what if they actually don't know where I am right now? Talking could lead them right to me, then I'm dead, it's game over!_

 _If they're really after me, then maybe I could attract them with a sound and run far away from all the people and fight them from a safe distance there but...the police. They told me not to fight. If I were to lure them far away and fight them and beat them up, making sure no civilians got hurt in the process, I'd still be seen as the bad guy, just because I don't have a license!_

 _Dammit! This stupid system is so frustrating!_

Shota grit his teeth angrily, clenching his fists in frustration.

Suddenly, however,

he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You can act out on that frustration. We're all frustrated with the system and society. We help each other work together as a team to combat that system. Our plan is to fix the society, not destroy it. 'Ya know why?" The mind-reader guy appeared from a behind, Shota didn't turn around to face him. The boy was frozen stiff as the mind-reader guy whispered in his ear.

"Because society is already destroyed. It's been crumbled to dust for a long time, Shota. Yet heroes defend this backwards world. You stopped a woman from receiving a terrible fate and what do you get in return for your heroic deed? Scolding for using your quirk on another person." Shota bowed his head upon hearing these words actually spoken aloud, it made him wince.

 _But I also received praise._ The boy thought.

"True but they made sure to frighten you into staying away from playing hero and using your quirk for good like you've been wanting to ever since you were 5." He tussled the boy's hair and hit a deeply emotional sore spot he had been doing his best to forget for almost 9 years. Instinctively, Shota ended up smacking away the hand tussling his, now standing hair and the villain gazed into the flaring red eyes of the small boy that scowled with a sickening hatred towards the man, who smirked.

"That anger is a good thing, but you're aiming it the wrong way. Remember? Society is the problem! Shota, if you want to be a real hero, then join us and help us get rid of those fakes, we'll take over and change the way things are for the better! We'll fix everything with your help!" The man offered his hand to Shota with a kind smile and the other villains started appearing around him as well.

"I-I, uh." The boy canceled the mind-reader's quirk so he could try to think up a strategy.

 _Are they seriously giving me a choice?_

"We aren't even going to kidnap you. You can live a simple double life." The man told him and Shota gave him a very blatant gaze of confusion and impatience. He got on one knee like the officer did, not touching him but making perfect eye contact and try to appear on an equal level.

"During the day, you go to school, go home, eat, do homework, spend time with friends, and nap. At night, however, you come to me for training. At night, you're a villain. I'm sure we can help you master that scarf _way_ faster and you could be an _awesome_ fighter on your own! If you just get the proper training from the proper master. Shota Aizawa, I can bring out your maximum potential! Whaddaya say?" The mind-reader grinned.

 _He obviously thinks I'm a gullible moron simply because I'm a child._

Then he blinked and had to fake his own mind set, mentally playing along.

 _Extremely tempting. I dunno if I could handle the stress of a 'double life' but the sooner I can master this damned scarf, the better I suppose. Maybe._

"Can I get a few days to think about it?" Shota asked with a tone of voice and smirk that suggested he was clearly leaning towards the villains' side. The villains agreed.

"In three days, I'll come back here with my decision." Shota told them and they agreed to that as well.

Then Shota watched as a bubble formed around all of them collectively, popped and they vanished.

The boy got off the roof, sprinted to the police station, getting lost a few times along the way but after an hour or two of running around in search of it, he found the Hosu Police Department.

He ran into the building as a sweating, panting mess, alarming those at the front desk.

"Please, I need to talk to the police. I just encountered the league of villains!" Shota breathed, leaning on a wall for stability and so the boy was taken in for questioning.


	12. Chapter 12

"What's your name?" The man asked. The boy took a deep breath before answering but didn't look him in the eye.

"Shota Aizawa." The black-haired boy shrank in his seat.

" _Aizawa_ , huh?" The man raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." He tried to hide his face with his hair as he twiddled his thumbs.

"And so you said that the villains have targeted you? Do you know why?" The man asked.

There was a pause, then the boy sighed.

 _Lying will get me nowhere. I came to THEM. I have to tell the truth._

"I can erase people's quirks temporarily. I'm also the son of a former member of theirs."

"Who?" The officer was likely already making guesses.

"The Incinerator." Shota muttered, embarrassed and tense.

"Alright then, now can you give us the details of your encounter with the villains? How many were there?" The man seemed to not care about the boy's father, much to his relief as he answered.

"We met on the roof of a convenience store. I think there were about 15 but I only witnessed and felt the use of 4. There's a telepath, a mind-reader, a guy who teleports things using bubbles and another guy with invisibility. I don't know the rest of their quirks." Shota told the man, saddened he couldn't get any further information. He left out the details of their conversation on society and just told the man about the arrangements to meet them at the same spot in three days with an answer.

"I was hoping that by making that arrangement, it'd be possible to set up a trap to capture all the villains or maybe I could continue my act and claim that I want to join them so I can find out where their HQ is." The boy told him and the man's jaw had fallen agape, eyes wide in shock. Shota pulled his knees into his chest, nervous, starting to realize how stupid he was.

 _Would they have given me longer? I don't trust a villain's patience. They'd get suspicious if I asked for two weeks to think it over! I made a mess! I made a really REALLY bad mess! My attempt at catching the league of villains, of COURSE back-fires due to it being such short notice! Maybe four or five days?_

The man abruptly stood up from his chair, baring a very serious expression that Shota fears is anger.

"We can make this work! We WILL detain the league of villains! And it will be thanks to you, young man. Just how old are you?" He asked, noticing the boy's small frame.

"I'm 13." Shota responded, playing with his hair.

The man initially thought he was 10.

"It's surprising you managed to think up such a strategy with a mind-reader present and keep it secret. That's talent. I think you have a lot of potential, Aizawa. Do you plan to be a pro hero?" He asked and Shota nodded.

"I intend to go to U.A. With a friend of mine. He should get in no problem." The boy told him.

"Well, if you have any issues getting in, just come to us." The man gave him a sweet smile that reminded him of Hizashi's, though not as toothy. Shota smiled back.

"Thank you, I appreciate the offer." He said.

 _Though I'd much rather do it on my own and have the satisfaction that I made it in without any help._

"Now then. I also need you to describe the appearances of as many villains as you can." The man requested and Shota did so, mentioning the mind-reader as being a simple guy in a black hoodie and jeans probably so it'd be harder to spot him in a crowd of civilians since he didn't see his face, he also mentioned the attire of the invisible guy when he was visible and how he was really fast and he was also equipped with various tranquilizer darts that Shota had the misfortune of experiencing first-hand. He described all the other villains from memory before they were teleported via bubble and watched the man write down every word he uttered, understandably. The man then flipped the page of his little notebook to a blank one and handed it over to Shota.

"Alright, could you write down your number for me? And put your name beside it. I'll be making a lot of phone calls with this information." He told the boy. The black-haired boy didn't hesitate in giving him his number then slid the notebook across the table back to him.

"Thank you. You're free to go Aizawa, but if what you said is true and they are possibly after you, you should at least be given a police escort to make sure that you get home safely." The man mentioned and Shota groaned.

"Ugh. Fine." He dragged his hand down his face and the man left the room briefly before returning with another officer. He introduced himself, offered his hand for Shota to shake, the boy couldn't help but think about the villains for a split second prior to, reluctantly, taking the hand and shaking.

The two left by car since it was much safer than walking, Shota told him his address

He's walked right up to his door and Shota opens it with the spare key he got. The boy had calmed down some but was still a bit hot, though that couldn't be helped due to his winter attire.

"Alright, thanks!" He told the man. The two smiled and parted ways.

"Stay safe!" The man exclaimed.

"I will!" Shota said then entered his apartment. He closed the door behind himself. His aunt had passed out on the couch while watching TV.

 _Weird. Doesn't she always fall asleep to her TV in her bed? Then again,_

Shota pulled out the ramen cup from his backpack and went towards the kitchen which connected to the living room openly without a door or wall separating the two sections of the apartment so anyone on the couch could just turn to their left and see the entire kitchen. He chose to go with the more quiet approach of simply boiling some water then poured it into the cup instead of microwaving it since the ding sound would surely alert his aunt and wake her up.

 _Is it possible that she was waiting for me?_

The boy sneakily took the cup to his room. He placed it on his desk then went to wake up his aunt just in case.

Shota gently shook her awake and the woman groaned and scowled at whoever was disturbing her rest, then saw it was Shota and scowled viciously at the boy.

"What time is it?" The woman drearily asked and Shota turned to the ticking clock and was appalled to discover it was past midnight.

"Like, 2AM." Shota told her in his dull tone, which she matched.

"Okay. Why'd you wake me up?" There was vivid irritation in her voice.

 _Obviously she WASN'T waiting for me then._

"Just don't want you to catch a cold is all, let me help you to bed." He lied, offering a hand to assist her in getting off the couch. However, she easily saw through the boy's bullshit.

"Yeah right. You think I'm a dumbass don't you?" She glared and Shota's eyes widened.

"If you really didn't want me to 'catch a cold', you would've come over here way earlier and in your PJ's but no, you're standing here, at 2AM in regular clothes and a backpack even and you thought that, because I was tired, I wouldn't notice." The woman mentioned.

"So, what's your explanation?" She added and Shota nervously looked all around him.

"I, uh. I was taking a late night walk." Shota yawned, he really needed that energy drink.

"Fine, whatever." She headed towards her room, which was in the same hallway as Shota's so the boy followed. They went to their respective rooms and shut the doors.

Shota was _finally_ able to eat something and his aunt just went to sleep.

 _Alright, I don't give two shits what time it is, Hizashi needs to know about this._ The boy thought and called Hizashi. After a few rings, he eventually picked up and was met with a very tired voice on the other end, probably didn't even read who was calling him since he answered so formally.

"Hello? This is Hizashi Yama-"

"Hizashi. Villainous shit just happened." Shota said and the blond shot awake.

"WHAT?!" The blond yelled.

"At first everything started off fine tonight, I stopped a bad guy using my scarf and I was gonna tell you about it when I came to visit but then the league of villains showed up." Shota muttered then ate some more noodles.

"Okay what is that I'm hearing on the other end?" Hizashi asked.

"The ramen I went out to get. But at least I'm eating something for once. Anyway, the mind-reader guy showed up there. I think they got out of jail with bubble guy's teleportation quirk. It was those two and at least 15 more. Now those assholes apparently have a telepath too! So there's a guy that can talk to us through our heads so, basically, there are two mind-reader guys now except one of them can interact with those thoughts." Shota described.

"And you were alone?!" Hizashi's voice was shaky and terrified.

"Hey, hey, calm down, I was able to think my way out of it...partially. I made sure to lead them away from other civilians and we had a, sorta 'discussion' atop the roof of a nearby store where they made the same offer to train me and make me a member of the league of villains again. I think they want to fill the tiny hole my father left behind. They tried to make the offer appealing and it almost was but I saw through it and erased the quirk of the mind-reader guy who was trying to convince me then filled my thoughts with their ideals, purposefully thinking about considering it since I just knew the telepath had to be in the group somewhere. Finally, I made my proposal. Now, Hizashi, listen, I need you to stay calm and remember the police are very capable people, especially accumulatively and if a bunch of heroes come too, then I should be safe and-."

"You're gonna use yourself as bait, aren't you?" There was obvious fear and anger in his voice.

"I made a deal that I would 'think over the proposal' then meet them all back there at the same spot in three days then went to the police, told them all of this. I didn't think it'd take so long for them to get a guy to come in and question me and the actually questioning itself took forever!" Shota said as he cracked open the tab of his energy drink.

"I can't believe you're so calm about this and this all just happened in one night. I lose sleep, worrying about you!" Hizashi complained.

"Sorry, but I just felt you should be informed on the situation." Shota said, then took a sip of his drink.

"Don't apologize. It's nice to know you're willing to come to me at such a time, kinda sweet, really." Both boys blushed a bit from Hizashi's statement.

"W-well, uh, you're, um, uh, it's just that, you-you're easy to talk to and it's, okay, maybe I was a bit scared. To be honest, I'm, um, r-really looking forward to next weekend." Shota nervously laughed in his effort to hide the stutter and Hizashi chuckled as well.

"Your laugh is really adorable, Shota." Both boys were bright red.

"Ehehe, I'm glad I called you. It was relieving. I wouldn't mind talking a lot longer but you need sleep and I have homework so, thanks for cheering me up or rather, calming me down, and sorry for the worry, bye." Shota hung up.

He removed his homework from his backpack, finished his ramen and energy drink and got to work after swiftly shutting his curtains.


	13. Chapter 13

Meanwhile,

Hizashi laid his phone by his bed and sighed then flipped himself over face down so he could scream into his pillow before turning back over.

"Dammit Shota."

 _Why must he have to be so god damn cute?!_

 _And, of course, while we're apart he gets confronted by the league of villains!_

 _I learned to fight so I could be a hero! Protect others and that includes people like Shota! He's hardly eaten! How can he fight properly if he's that weak?!_

 _He needs my help. I have to care for him if he's gonna rush into fights like I would. I can't believe he's gonna be used as bait! How could he do that?! He's too smart to go through with something like that!_

 _Maybe I can get him to move in with us if mom makes the best meal she's ever made!_

 _But still, it'll be on Saturday and that stupid villain confrontation is gonna be on Monday or Tuesday since he said three days from now. Was their agreement a couple hours ago? It had to have been if the questioning supposedly took so long. So the arrangement took place, technically on Friday._

 _Why does the cutest boy in the world have to dart into danger instead of into my arms?! He's at risk in every encounter!_

 _Dammit!_

The boy's horrid thoughts of what may happen to Shota circled his head throughout the rest of the night and he couldn't sleep as a gross, sweaty mess of stress and fear. Before he knew it, morning came. Hizashi spent the entire day in his room, sobbing into his pillow as the awful thoughts twirled around him while he lied in bed, curled in a little ball of fear for his dear friend. He didn't eat for the whole day, no matter how much his stomach grumbled.

Meanwhile, the next evening in Hosu,

"yeah, it's the roof of _this_ convenience store." Shota pointed out. Almost the entire street had been blocked off, up until the closest intersection so that Shota and the police could plan in peace.

"Why did you guys bring the kid? I thought he was just gonna tell you all the information over the phone." A hero arrived and criticized.

"It's a little complicated. You didn't hear his questioning. I don't think he should be underestimated." The man who interviewed Shota walked up to the hero and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"We aren't really using him as bait, are we?" The hero asked.

"No! Of course not! The chief is calling for the shape-shifter to take his place. Aizawa!" The man turned to the boy, gaining his attention and the little black-haired teen faced him.

"You'll have to spend a little bit of time with him, the shape-shifter, tell him all about yourself to get a good read on your personality so he can mimic it properly and accurately." The man told him. The boy groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Fine!" He grumbled, then turned back to the officer he had been formerly speaking with.

"So I assume we're going to fill the streets with officers and heroes dressed as civilians in order to throw the villains off?" Shota asked, folding his arms.

"That might work but we'd need a _lot_ more officers and heroes. We'll have to make calls to heroes from other cities. The street may not seem that long but it's so busy at night. Not to mention there are so many villains that will be coming with unpredictable quirks." The officer scratched his chin.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to find out what their other quirks are, maybe I should've gone with them and I could've found out once I got to their base, wherever that is!" Shota clenched his fists angrily, then felt a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, it's fine. You still managed to learn the quirks of four of them that we can try to prepare against. You've done a good job already." He assured.

"Thanks. But that doesn't change the fact that we're still in the dark on several of them!" Shota said.

"We'll simply acquire as many heroes and officers as possible." The officer told him, trying to assure him that 'everything will be okay' but Shota wasn't going to fall for that bullshit.

 _No. Don't simplify things like I won't get it. I'm not stupid._

"It's not 'simple'. We need to figure out a quiet, subtle, and peaceful way to get the civilians in this area to stay inside during the night so they won't get hurt. Or maybe just the shape-shifter should go into the base without the heroes and officers anywhere close by because the telepath may find them and where they're all hiding or maybe we simply go with your plan and just ambush them without me knowing who has the strongest quirk. If I know who that person is, I can erase it from a hidden location and you guys can all attack. I can fight from a safe distance. It's not simple, officer." The boy calmly explained and the other officers heard this and were dumbfounded at his observational skills.

"I don't even know how to properly respond to that." The officer told him.

"Look, kid, you're pretty smart but you should really leave this to the adults." Another officer chimed in and tussled his hair with an anxious chuckle. Shota seemed to feel an obligation to stay, though.

"No." He bluntly said.

"No?" Both officers repeated.

"I'm not leaving the scene until we have an actual _plan_." The boy stood his ground. The officers were about to physically lift the, obviously, light-weight boy, until his eyes flashed red and hair flew up and his scarf began to float around him. It scared the men for a few seconds but they eventually got over it and finally picked him up. Shota pouted as he was basically tucked under the man's arm.

"You need to go home and stay there. Thanks for the help. We'll call you with more details later." He told the boy then set him down and the second man pet him on the head.

"You did a good job, now see 'ya!" The second man waved dismissively.

Shota begrudgingly did as told and walked back to his apartment, fuming, telling Hizashi about it once he got in his room.

"Yeah! And I'm supposed to talk with the shape-shifter so they can get to know me better! Then they just totally disregard my opinion, probably because I'm a child! I bet it just struck their pride that a 13 year-old came up with a bunch of stuff that they probably didn't even think of!" Shota snickered and Hizashi could not be any more relieved to hear that Shota wasn't going to be the actual bait.

"No. I'm not moving in with you, Hizashi." The black-haired had a feeling he'd hear this request.

"Because they seem to follow me and I don't wanna attract them to you. I hope that whatever plan the police have will work and if not, it took the villains more than a month to track me down and find me here in Hosu. Besides, even if they did attack you, you don't have to worry about injuring me now that we're separated like this. You're a lot safer without me-"

"I don't care about safety if I'm without you!" Hizashi yelled, immediately turning red. Shota turned red as well.

"Sure, the kids are a lot nicer here and there isn't any danger, but it feels empty! I feel empty without you by my side, Shota! I miss you, I miss you a lot and I worry about you all the time, I just want to keep you safe and protect you. I was a sobbing mess all day because I thought YOU were going to be the bait and not the shape-shifter!" Shota could hear the start of new tears on the other end.

"I'm sorry." He wasn't sure of what else to say, the black-haired boy wasn't accustomed to yelling out all of his feelings in such a detailed manner.

"Shota." Hizashi muttered.

~silence on Shota's end~

Hizashi takes a deep breath.

"Don't you dare do anything reckless on that day. Do whatever the police or heroes tell you to do. I would like to see you on Saturday _unharmed_. If you succeed, you'll be receiving a really cool gift from me, alright? It'll be cat related." The blond bribed and teased. Shota just knew Hizashi was grinning.

"Fine." Shota relented.

"YES!" He had to swiftly distance his phone from his ear.

"Well, see 'ya later." Shota told him.

"BYE!" Hizashi hung up.

The guilt from Hizashi's words loomed over Shota, it made him somewhat regret going out for ramen in the first place.

 _I was hungry and Hizashi was lecturing me on eating but I don't wanna blame my only friend for the incident. Still, I managed to save that woman and use my capture weapon properly but that lead to a scolding from the police._

 _If I hadn't been put in such a sour mood, would the villain still have been able to get me somewhere generally hidden or private to talk or convince me of society's shittiness?_

 _Maybe but that would've taken longer and either way it didn't and wouldn't work unless they captured and hypnotized me. One of them could have some kinda hypnosis quirk. Ugh! I didn't think I would regret not taking that offer so much! Jeez! If only I could just-. No, I shouldn't make that kind of wish. I have to think logically if I want to beat them._

 _They're adults though and I'm a child but, then again, villains are idiots._

 _They're fools because they chose the path of destruction and evil, like a little brat that thinks throwing a temper tantrum will get him what he wants, terrorism, is the same way, just on a grander scale, I was an idiot for even considering joining them!_

"There's no way I'd join those dumbasses. Once everyone truly forgets my father and doesn't see the resemblance between us, I'll finally be able to be a hero with confidence, especially if I'm an underground one, avoiding the spotlight." The teen smirked.

Saturday went relatively well, but there was still Sunday and a majority of Monday to get ready for the meeting.

Sunday came along and he heard nothing from the police or heroes, keeping his phone on at all times. He looked out the window repeatedly to see if anything had changed and,

nothing.


	14. Chapter 14

Finally, Monday arrived. The day he was supposed to meet the villains. He looked out his window multiple times and eventually received a text, it was from the police and merely told him to stay inside and keep everything locked and that they would have a few officers guard his door and he should also turn his lights off.

Shota obeyed, watching them cut off the part of the intersection that goes towards the convenience store using construction work signs. They kept the stores beyond that point open but he saw a few people enter each one and then the presumed current workers would exit. A majority of the group of heroes and officers split up and entered the stores, several others hid in alleyways and the rest were hiding in other various locations. Then Shota spotted him, his shape-shift copy standing on the roof.

 _What the hell?! He never even came to speak with me! Well, I guess they just used the questioning and our previous experiences and relayed that to the shape-shifter hero._

Soon, the villains showed up, asking what Shota's decision was.

'Shota' nodded and reached out his hand.

"I'll join!" The fake boy smirked. The mind-reader guy stood right in front of him.

There was a pause.

The real Shota quickly realized what was happening and tried to save the situation by erasing mind-reader guy's quirk, but that just made things worse.

The real Shota believed the shape-shifter was thinking very obviously not like himself so in order to prevent the mind-reader from hearing those suspicious thoughts, the black-haired boy used his quirk.

The mind-reader grinned sinisterly at the shape-shifter and turned towards a different guy.

A man Shota didn't recognize.

 _Is that the telepathy guy? Him and the mind-reader guy must be making a strategy of their own._

 _Oh no._ _Oh shit._

 _The mind-reader guy can read my memories!_

 _He can read anybody's memories and the telepathy guy just started speaking to me in my head out of nowhere!_

 _They'll find where everybody's hiding! But how could they have prepared against that in three days anyhow?_

Just then, all the heroes and officers ran out of their respective shops but while they did so, bubble guy teleported himself. Shota just knew they were coming for him.

As fast as humanly possible, Shota grabbed his backpack, zipped it open and grabbed the massive bundle of his scarf and a bubble the size of two adults appeared in his room. It popped and only one man showed up, which meant...

Suddenly as Shota busted through his window, shattering the glass and acquiring several cuts,

he also gained a dart to the leg.

As he fell, Shota, before the tranquilizer could screw him over completely, activated his quirk. The scarf un-tangled and coiled around him, his eyes turned red and his hair was already flying up. He frantically searched around for something he could grip with his scarf to slow his fall.

 _Hizashi! I can't die or get too hurt here! I don't wanna worry him again!_

The villains were all staring at him while the heroes were all rushing to save him.

 _A vent!_ There was a vent blowing air out on the roof of a nearby building.

Due to all of the wind blowing against his eyes, they were ungodly dry and stinging like crazy but the villains didn't seem to care if he died and he was getting closer and closer towards impact and the heroes were too far away even though they were moving as fast as they could to try and save him.

Shota threw his arm in the direction of the vent, reminding himself of how he captured that bad guy in the alley way and lifted himself up in gym, practically like reigns. The scarf went around the vent and came back to him and he used the momentum to swing himself up onto the roof.

The landing was a rough and he twisted his ankle, but couldn't feel it thanks to the tranquilizer dart which he finally was able to yank out. Upon landing, he blinked and, not only did his hair and scarf go limp, but so did the rest of his body.

From the convenience store roof, the mind-reader wore a sadistic grin, having watched the entire scene, along with his other colleagues and they continued to watch as the heroes made their valiant effort to reach Shota before a certain man with teleportation.

The bubble guy appeared right next to Shota, picked the boy up and with a snap of the fingers, a bubble formed around them, popped, and they were gone.

"NO!" The heroes yelled.


	15. Chapter 15

Once the helpless Shota was where they wanted him, the bubble guy returned to retrieve his colleagues but managed to be stopped when he was swiftly tasered by an officer and they put him in special cuffs that disabled him from being able to snap his fingers.

When other villains tried to use their quirks, they were immediately shot several times in all of their limbs then, if they could still try anything, they were tasered and soon all of them were cuffed. As a safety measure, one of the heroes; Sir Gello turned every villain into a gellotin version of themselves for 24 hours, which completely erases their quirks during that time. None of the villains were able to struggle or fight against it since they were in so much pain.

So Shota was completely alone, limp, in a dimly lit warehouse, barely awake, incredibly confused and terrified of his fate that will befall him while trapped in this eerily quiet presumed base. He could hardly think straight and just wanted to go to sleep but he had no idea what might happen to him if he makes the mistake of letting his guard down.

 _What's the point in trying to stay awake though? It's not like I can move anyway._

He sighed and fell asleep.

When he woke up, he found that he could move again, it just took some sleep to get over the dart's effect.

Shota looked around and saw he hadn't been moved an inch. Nobody came and took him to a different location or to some torture device. In fact, nobody 'came' at all. The warehouse was vacant and relatively decrepit, there lied some crates and a wretched odor that Shota made the assumption was something dead and rotting, making him wish to leave as soon as possible.

He hastily got to his feet and realized his ankle was aching, now that the numbness had ceased. He tried and failed to run and so he limped as fast as he could towards the enormous doors.

The boy had to use all his strength to pry open the doors.

He saw that the warehouse apparently resided in a forest.

Shota reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone to find there was no signal.

"Tch. Of course." The boy glared at the screen and placed the phone back in his pocket.

 _That must be why they didn't bother taking it. Because it's useless here!_

The boy took several steps back, then took a picture with his phone of the warehouse before darting into the dense forest, limping quickly. He would've leapt to the top of the tallest tree to try and get a better idea of where he was located but that was impossible with his hurt ankle.

Shota ran and ran for what felt like hours, constantly checking if he had gained a signal but there was simply nothing.

By the time he reached civilization, it was past midnight. He made sure to keep running in a straight line, never once making a turn unless absolutely necessary and, not recognizing where he was, he walked up to the closest house and knocked. The people who answered the door were an elderly couple, shocked and concerned for this child who just showed up on their doorstep, sweaty, panting, covered in cuts, dirt, they noticed the swelling ankle, strained eyes, he was like a poor sick puppy. The kind couple brought him in as he was about to ask them where he ended up.

"Can you tell us what happened? Where did you come from, young man?" The old woman asked.

"It's a long story, please, I just really need to know where I _am_. I really need to call the police." Shota told them urgently, then coughed and rubbed his eyes.

"Honey, could you make him some tea?" The woman turned to her, presumed husband, he nodded. She turned back to Shota and told him their address.

 _We're kinda close to Hizashi...that's rather odd. If he's near their base, why haven't they taken him yet or at least tried to? The mind-reader oughtta know where to find him and, if not him, then the telepathy gut at least. I'm glad they haven't made a move though, maybe I really am their only target?_

The boy got lost in his thoughts, soon getting jolted out of them when the tea was placed in front of him.

"Uh, thanks, anyway, I need to make my call." The boy said and pulled out his phone, dialing the number for the police. He told them the address and that he found the league of villains base which he managed to escape from. There wasn't much to say besides that and so they said they would send some officers to come and investigate. He thanked them and hung up.

He proceeded to start drinking his tea calmly.

 _This night has been exhausting. I took a nap and I'm still tired, maybe more than before, probably due to those hours of running. Since Hizashi is kinda close by, I wonder if I could crash at his place for the night? Or rather, the REST of the night. I just hope the police don't ask me to lead them all the way to the damned warehouse. Actually, I should probably get back to Hosu ASAP and head to the PD there or better yet, just tell the police here about my whole situation, give my name, and tell them I have a friend in the general area I can stay with and I'd genuinely be much safer there. I still can't help feeling like a bad luck charm though. There's no way I could forgive myself if Hizashi and his family got hurt by a villain attack because they were after me._

Not long after he finished his tea, he heard sirens and Shota went outside to speak with the police.

He said that he made sure to run as straight as possible, never making any turns and told them the warehouse was empty, then showed them the picture on his phone.

"We've looked there a couple times and only on very _very_ rare occasions do we catch someone going in or out and succeed in arresting them. It's not their base, it's merely a meeting spot." The officer told the boy who groaned, having believed he had found the actual base to the league of villains.

"Now then, you said they were after you?" He asked, looking at Shota's injuries and noticing his limp.

The boy nodded.

"I just wanna go home but 'home' is probably being investigated because that's where I was kidnapped from. This area is much safer it seems and a friend's place is nearby." Shota explained.

"We should take you to a hospital." The officer said.

"It's just a twisted ankle and a few cuts!" The boy argued.

"Fine." The officer groaned.

"I'll be escorting you to your friend's home, though as a safety precaution." He told the boy.

"Alright." Shota begrudgingly didn't object and told them they'd have to drive.

The two got in the car and Shota looked up the directions. The drive took about ten whole minutes before they reached the apartment complex. When they did, a knot formed much more vividly in the boy's stomach as he pondered the reactions he would get when he showed up at their doorstep.

 _It's so late at night. Hizashi is already worried sick, I'm sure. Is it really alright to just come by like this? Unannounced? Injured with a police officer by my side at 3AM? I can't go back to Hosu, all the villains are there, my apartment is most likely being investigated, officers are just waiting for me to come back so they can put me in hiding and question me relentlessly. Dammit._

The boy went through his texts to find Hizashi's apartment number, hesitantly with a shaky finger.

 _I can't believe I'm doing this._

Once he found it, him and the officer went up in the elevator to Hizashi's level and Shota dreaded the moment when those doors would open,

he didn't want to continue here, but he also didn't want to go home. He just wanted to run and hide somewhere else but then there would be a bunch of Missing posters and he'd worry Hizashi even _more,_ he was stuck.

The elevator stopped and they heard a ding sound, the doors slid open, then he was ushered out by the officer without a choice.

With a heavy sigh, he looked at all the numbers on each door in the hall until they finally spotted it, Hizashi's apartment. The two walked up to the door, Shota taking a few deep breaths before knocking on the door.

There were hurried, but rather light thuds, clearly dashing towards them from inside and within the span of 10 seconds, the door was open.

Hizashi stood in the doorway baring a horrified expression at the sight in front of him.

Cuts, swollen bruise, red strained eyes, wearing his capture weapon, Shota avoided eye contact.

"Thanks for bringing him here." Hizashi told the officer as he gently grasped Shota's hand and brought him inside. The officer bowed and left and Hizashi closed the door behind the black-haired boy once he was all the way in.

Suddenly, Hizashi's kind demeanor turned to one of sadness as tears began profusely pouring.

"I THOUGHT YOU PROMISED NOT TO FIGHT!" Hizashi yelled, a mix of rage and frustration in his voice.

"I didn't! I got these injuries from different stuff!" Shota, again had no idea how to properly comfort

"Yeah right! Like what?! On the night the arrangement is supposed to happen!" Hizashi criticized and Shota winced at the unintentional loudness of his voice that woke up his father who came to see what was happening. He entered the living room and found the two boys arguing, or so it appeared.

"Hey! What's going o-?" He shifted his gaze to Shota as he approached and realized the black-haired boy was injured.

"Shota! Are you alright?" The man asked and he nodded.

"I just got a few cuts and twisted my ankle...and gained a few other bruises to go along with that twisted ankle. But I managed to avoid having a direct confrontation with the villains, kinda." Shota nervously chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"What do you mean 'kinda'?" Hizashi scowled.

"How about we treat his wounds first. How does a nice hot bath sound?" His father asked.

"I definitely need one after all the sweating. A lot can happen in a few hours." Shota yawned.

"Yeah, you can just wash clean all the wounds and then we'll put ice on your ankle. I'll show you where the bathroom is." Hizashi started to calm down a little and smile, at least for Shota's sake as he helped him through the hallway upon noticing he had a limp.

Once in the bathroom, Hizashi turned on the water and showed Shota the cabinet under the sink had towels in it then told Shota he'd get him some pajamas, and left.

The black-haired boy sat in silence beside the slowly filling bathtub.

Less than a minute later, his blond friend knocked on the door.

"I'm decent." He joked and Hizashi took that as a cue to being given clearance. He entered and saw Shota was fully dressed as he laid the pajamas on the sink for him.

"I wanna know how bad my injuries are, can you look at my back?" The black-haired boy asked as he started to remove his shirt and the blond's cheeks started to redden.

"S-sure." He nodded.

"Also, when I show you my injuries, could you please, at least _try_ not to cry your eyes out?" Shota requested and the other boy nodded.

Shota completely removed his shirt and turned his back to Hizashi.

His back had several bruises, mostly his shoulders and shoulder blades. Hizashi told him this.

"Well, whatever." Shota shrugged.

"How'd that happen?" Hizashi asked as Shota continued stripping, the blond turned bright red and closed his eyes in embarrassment, then heard water splash and the facet turn off then opened his eyes again. He was faced with a grinning, clearly very relaxed, Shota that slid lower and lower into the water, submerging very briefly then resurfacing, a mass of his hair covering his face.

"Do you remember the teleportation bubble guy?" Shota broke the silence as he moved the soaking wet hair out of his face. Hizashi nodded.

"Yeah?"

"And do you remember that invisible guy with the tranquilizer darts?" Shota added.

"Yeah." Hizashi nodded again.

"He teleported himself and the invisibility guy into my room in my own apartment so I grabbed my scarf and smashed through my window since it was locked and I had no time to unlock it and open it. As I was falling out, the invisibility guy managed to still stick me with another one of his darts, so my legs were made useless and limp and severely weakened me. I was panicking, frantically trying to find something I could use to slow my fall and or stop me until I found a vent. I used my scarf on it and I was swung hard with that momentum. It was a very rough landing on that rooftop." Shota stared at the scarf pile he had placed on top of his small pile of dirty clothes.

Hizashi's eyes were wide and his jaw agape, mouth concealed by his two hands.

The black-haired boy grabbed the bar of soap and started to wash his cuts.

"Then once I landed, I was totally limp, there was nothing left I could do, the tranquilizer had fully set in and that was when the bubble guy showed up again. I was completely helpless as he picked me up and took me away." It seemed that saying it out loud and the more he thought about, the more scary it became to the black-haired boy and a chill ran up his spine but he forced a brave face for Hizashi.

The blond easily saw the fear behind it, though.

 _I can't believe that happened to him! They actually managed to take him! If I had been there, I bet I could've taken them all out with one scream or with my self-defense classes!_

 _Shota's constantly gonna be targeted! I have to protect him. I have to save him! I have to be a hero!_

Shota told him how nobody came to the warehouse. The fact that he just slept off the effect of the tranquilizer. Meeting the elderly couple, calling and speaking with the police.

All spoken while he thoroughly washed his whole body and shampooed his hair, heavily rinsed, and combed and repeated this process with his hair, at least three or four times. Hizashi had to convince him his hair was truly clean, but Shota voiced his concern about glass shards, the blond ran his fingers through Shota's hair, his face turning red in the process then told Shota he felt nothing.

 _Man, his hair is really soft. Is it the shampoo?_

Shota sighed, put the shampoo bottle back and got the conditioner instead.

"I'm really, really sorry, Shota." Hizashi muttered.

"Why?" Shota wondered as he draped his black locks with the soft orange liquid.

"I accused you of joining the fight." Hizashi bowed his head.

"Hey, it's fine. I'd accuse me too." Shota attempted to comfort, his attempt alone was cute.

 _Just simply saying the equivalent to 'me too' is not that great of comforting but, coming from him, it seems much nicer. He's been through a lot anyway. I oughtta let him, at least believe he made me feel better, which he did but only a little and just because he's adorable._

Hizashi and Shota had been friends, technically, for a couple months now but hardly got the chance to interract with each other. Shota still had a kinda mysterious vibe to him and Hizashi still wanted to know everything about his friend while Shota hardly knew a thing about him other than his quirk, he was loud in general, they shared the interest of cats, and he liked music. Hizashi didn't even know if Shota had started puberty because of his smallness and he hadn't heard the full spectrum of Shota's _voice_ though, so he didn't know if his rather quiet friend was having funny voice cracks, that Hizashi could add to the list of Shota's cuteness.

Shota finally finished with the conditioner and groaned.

"I'm done." He pouted and Hizashi raised an eyebrow.

"Why the-, oh. Are you really that comfy in the bathwater?" Hizashi snickered. Shota, embarrassed, folded his arms and looked away, blushing.

"No." The black-haired boy grumbled, lying.

"Let me help you out so you don't slip and fall." Hizashi offered his hand, which Shota grabbed without hesitation and the blond easily pulled him up to his feet. Once Shota was out of the bathtub, Hizashi grabbed a towel and the black-haired boy proceeded to dry off.

"But really," Hizashi started, earning Shota's attention.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all that and I'm really sorry I made the assumption you fought."

"Quit apologizing." Shota abruptly told him. Hizashi was obviously confused.

"It gets annoying if you do it too often and starts to lose meaning. Like when your body gets used to a medicine because you've been taking the pills constantly." The black-haired boy lectured, the blond hadn't ever thought of it that way before. Said while Shota was drying his hair.

He then put on the pajamas placed on the sink and the two went to Hizashi's room.


	16. Chapter 16

"Welcome to my studio!" The blond happily announced, though the room was smaller then the one in his _house_. Shota was a bit too exhausted to actually focus on any of the details and he yawned.

"It's cool." He blandly complimented.

"Now can we go to sleep?" He asked.

"Alright, you sleep on my bed and I'll sleep on the floor in my sleeping bag." Hizashi told him.

"No. You're bed is huge and I'm tiny, we'll both easily fit in it." Shota said as he crawled into the far end of the bed, leaving a large space for the other boy to crawl in as well. Hizashi stared at Shota in shock that he would even make the proposal, let alone get in bed and leave space for him.

 _Is he really that blind to the possible implication of that sentence?!_

"Sh-shota!" The blond blushed brightly while Shota yawned, oblivious to the awkward situation he had just created for his friend.

"What's wrong? Just come on already! I don't like the idea of me being in a large bed with plenty of space and you pointlessly on the floor, it's illogical. There's room for both of us." Shota explained and after a couple awkward seconds, Hizashi crawled into bed.

He laid flat, staring at the ceiling for a couple minutes until he heard subtle snoring then turned his head and saw Shota had already fallen asleep. His cute, relaxed, baby face was laying right beside him, short black locks frayed and draping over part of his face.

Hizashi reached towards him and very gently brushed the locks of hair out of his face.

The blond couldn't stop staring at the cute boy beside him, sleeping so peacefully, finally safe.

Shota seemed to be a little cold, so Hizashi raised the blanket a bit but even with the blanket higher, he started scooting towards Hizashi. Once Shota reached him, he started to cuddle the boy for warmth and Hizashi had no idea how to react besides staying still but settled on gently stroking his hair and the snoring got a tiny bit louder and the black-haired boy stopped cuddling.

 _He must've entered a deep sleep...thank God...but he's still basically attached to my arm._

The blond's face was hot and crimson with how much he was blushing.

Eventually, Hizashi fell asleep to Shota's snoring after he got used to the situation.

The next morning, both boys woke up in the same position they had fallen asleep in, just a little bit looser and this time, it was Shota who turned red.

His eyes widened and he quickly sat up and hastily scooted away from Hizashi.

Hizashi sat up and saw Shota's obviously shocked and embarrassed expression and he chuckled.

"I guess you were too tired to remember cuddling up against me for warmth?" He wondered.

"I-I uh-!" Shota was at a loss for words as he avoided eye contact, cheeks continuing to redden.

"D-don't you dare hold that over me! Or else I'm never visiting again!" He folded his arms and pouted, still avoiding eye contact since it would just make his face even more red. Unbeknownst to him, Hizashi was blushing just as vibrantly.

"You're definitely staying, Shota." Hizashi told him with a very serious expression.

"What?" Shota turned to him, reluctantly, despite his red face.

"I'll ask my dad to talk with the police about it or whoever he needs to talk to in order for my parents to be considered your legal guardians and for you to be allowed to move in with us here." Hizashi said.

"Hizashi, no! I told you that I don't want to intrude or be a burden and-!"

"Your death or getting tortured by the league of villains in Hosu is the biggest burden in the world for me! You want me to stop worrying about you? Then stay with us!" Hizashi's voice was starting to rise.

"But what about all of you?! If they're after me, they'll find you too and put your family in danger and _neither_ of us can handle a burden like that! You're the only one that would care if I got kidnapped! I have no other friends! I doubt my cousins are even aware of my existence! My aunt doesn't give two shits if I starve or come home past midnight! My mom is gone and you already know about my dad. If you or your parents got killed by villains, tell me something Hizashi, how many people would be there to mourn their death?" Shota scowled, when talking about his family, his voice was raised but calmed down when he asked Hizashi his question at the end, patiently awaiting an answer.

"My three aunts, five uncles, grandparents on both sides, three cousins, two great aunts and one great uncle." Hizashi's voice grew more and more quiet.

"I'm worthless compared to that. I'm going back to Hosu. I'm guessing my old clothes are still in the bathroom?" Shota casually remarked as he got off the bed and went towards the door.

"Shota, you're not worthless." Hizashi grabbed Shota's wrist and he stopped.

"You're priceless." He said and Shota kept his face turned away since it was heating up again.

"And I've been wanting to tell you-" He continued and Shota was curious as to what he wanted to say.

"Boys! Breakfast!" Hizashi's father abruptly barged into the room, startling the two teens in their quiet moment.

"Glad to see you're already awake." The man said with a smile then turned to Shota.

"How's your ankle?" He asked.

"Uh, it's alright. Not nearly as bad as last night." Shota explained.

"Good to hear. Now then, your mom made pancakes, let's hurry before they get cold." The man stated and lead the boys through the hall and to the kitchen.

Hizashi and his father thanked his mother/wife in sign language for the breakfast.

Shota wanted to do the same but it came off as though he was blowing her a kiss instead by accident.

Luckily the family knew what he was trying to do and gave him sweet smiles so he wouldn't be embarrassed by his semi-failed attempt at sign language.

 _ **Well, it's sweet that he's trying at least.**_ The family collectively thought.

They ate and did the same 'thank you' gesture which Shota paid much closer attention to. Hizashi noticed this and decided he'd help him with the very simplistic sign, to which Hizashi's mother responded with the sign for 'you're welcome', Shota made the guess that that was what she was saying with the next movement of her hands. He glanced at Hizashi and found he was starting to converse with his mother about something that Shota would never know unless he was a master of sign language. When he stopped, the black-haired boy shifted his gaze to the woman and saw she was glancing back and forth between Hizashi and the front door and the boys watched her countenance change from consideration to anger to fear to consideration again before her eyes settled back on the boys for a brief moment. The woman began to stare at Shota, mainly at his ankle.

For the first time since Shota met Hizashi's mother, he heard her release an audible groan.

She started using sign language again.

When she ceased, Hizashi ran to his father and brought him in.

Shota had no idea what they were talking about.

However, he did get repeatedly pointed at, as though he wouldn't notice and it very quickly got on his nerves. The fifth time Hizashi pointed at him, Shota smacked his hand, not hard enough to bruise it, just leave a red mark.

"Ow!" He exclaimed, retracting his hand and rubbing the spot that was hit.

"Why'd you hit me?!" He questioned.

"Why do you keep pointing at me?! What are you talking about?!" Shota demanded.

"Sorry for discluding you from the conversation, Shota." Hizashi's father started.

"We were talking about you staying with us." Hizashi finished.

"Hey! I thought I told you not to-" Shota was struggling to find the right words while standing in front of Hizashi's parents.

"I was telling them, well..., uh...everything." His blond friend muttered and Shota's eyes widened.

"What do you mean." He had a guess on what the other boy meant and that caused his fists to clench, perfectly ready and willing to beat the crap out of the blond.

"Our conversations, how you feel guilty and concerned for us and all that." Hizashi nervously laughed while Shota squinted his, now flaring red, eyes.

"'And all that', huh?" The black-haired boy scowled.

"And handling all the paperwork it'd take for my parents to be your legal guardians-."

"Dammit Hizashi!" By this point, Shota was completely erasing his quirk.

The furious boy, ignoring Hizashi's parents at this point, practically ran to the bathroom where his scarf and dirty clothes from last night still resided on the floor of.

He changed into them, went towards the front door, stopping as he opened it and faced the family.

"I'm going back to Hosu." He told them and shut the door behind himself.

 _They should recognize me, at least by my clothes at the bare minimum. Everybody's gonna be on the look out for a little boy with messy short black hair, a scarf, and dirty cat pajamas. Once I'm in police custody in Hosu, ugh...it'll probably be a long ass time before I'm allowed to live in my aunt's cat paradise again. Or hopefully I'll be able to just go in, answer some questions then the police will escort me back to the apartment._

He thought while walking through the hallway to the elevator and all the way down said elevator.

The boy began to trudge towards the train station, walking further and further away from the elevator upon exiting it. As he walked, his mind wandered to peaceful places in his attempt to be optimistic and got lost in his train of thought, daydreaming but his feet remained on the correct path while the boy dwelled within his serene thoughts. However, this thought process was abruptly interrupted.

"HEY!" The familiar loud voice called out to him and, begrudgingly, the black-haired boy came to a halt to wait for him yet didn't know why. Once he caught up, all Hizashi was met with were intense scowls.

"Look, I'm sorry! I wanted to come with you to Hosu." Hizashi told him.

"Go to school!" Shota ordered, noticing the boy was in his school uniform and remembered it was Tuesday.

"My parents told me to walk you home!" He frantically excused.

"Bullshit. You must've told them you were going to school, then decided to do this instead. Never saw you as a school skipper, 'Zashi!" Shota smirked at him. Hizashi blushed a little bit.

"'Zashi'?" The blushing boy grinned, causing Shota to blush somewhat as well.

"I-I, uh, um, uh-!" He tried to think up a reason for the sudden nickname or just an explanation in general but came up with nothing.

"It's cute. I think I might even prefer it over Hizashi if it's coming from your mouth!" Hizashi exclaimed. Shota was bright red, as was his blond friend and gradually started to forget his reasoning for being mad at him in the first place.

"My parents are going to kill me when they find out I ditched school." Hizashi was blatantly fearful, his voice cracking a few times in his shaky sentence.

"Then go to school! You're being stupid, acting like you're past the point of no return!" Shota rolled his eyes.

"I don't care if it's day time, I wanna make sure you get home safely!" Hizashi hissed.

The other boy pouted and pocketed his hands, grumbling to himself as he slouched during their walk.

"And I would like you to not get in trouble. You see? This is one of the reasons why we should just stay separated. Nothing good seems to come of us being close to each other. Besides, I can text or call." Shota said and Hizashi sighed.

"You're wrong, Shota." He stopped walking.

"Wha-?" Shota stopped a couple feet after him.

"I have my cellphone with me, I _can_ call or text you-"

"I mean you're wrong about nothing good coming from us being close to each other."

"'Zashi," was all Shota could think to say.

"There's at least two things in this relationship that make all of it worth it, no matter how much baggage the other has. And one of them is happiness." Hizashi mentioned with a goofy smile.

"What's that second thing?" Shota asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

 _Love._ Hizashi thought.

A silence ensued.

"Well if you're not gonna tell me then I'll go to the train station by _myself_." Shota glared and kept on walking, leaving Hizashi behind.


	17. Chapter 17

The blond sighed and turned around, knowing Shota would probably kick his ass for trying to join him instead of going to school, even though he took self-defense classes and Shota had been primarily working on his scarf training. He didn't feel like going home with a disjointed shoulder or broken bones, though or just barfing up his last meal.

 _Have I ever really seen Shota fight or use his scarf? He's just really agile, like a tiny ninja, from what I've seen so far at least._

Hizashi reluctantly starts heading towards school.

 _At the very least, we managed to get him to eat something._

Shota continued towards the train station, not bothering to look back at Hizashi.

When he reached the station, found which train he should wait for and sat down, he decided to call the officer he had been rarely chatting with during the three day preparation.

"Hey, It's Shota. Yes, I'm fine. I'm heading back to Hosu now. I wanted an update on the villains. Wait, seriously? They were actually caught? I thought for sure bubble guy would've gotten them all-...who the hell is Sir Gello? Oh. Well guess it's a good thing he was there. 24 hours, huh? So it's the finger snapping that makes the bubbles! How the hell did I not notice that?! Oh, shut up, my age doesn't matter! And I have every right to know this information! Okay, fine, I won't tell the other officers during questioning. So what about my apartment? Yeah, I had a feeling. But is that investigating over? Please let me stay with her! You what?"

"We found out about the whole relationship between you two. She starves you by keeping no food in the apartment for two people. No, you're too young to get a job! So you went out to get some food, by yourself. You're malnourished, all of us were able to see this when you came into the department to report your run-in with the league. She just cares about her cats and herself."

There was a pause on Shota's end.

"What about the villains?" The boy finally spoke.

"What _about_ the villains?" The man seemed impatient.

"I know you said they were caught but what kind of cells do they have? The telepath and mind-reader are incredibly dangerous with their quirks. It can't _just_ be solitary confinement."

"It's only been one night, Aizawa. I don't know yet, but I'll call as soon as I can, alright?" The man asked and heard a heavy sigh on the other end.

"Fine." The boy muttered and he hung up.

When Shota's train arrived and he boarded, he made sure to text Hizashi to let him know that he got on the train without a problem.

Hizashi was just entering school grounds when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He took it out, read the message and smiled briefly.

"But he's still not totally safe. He's not in police custody and I doubt there are any heroes on the train. I still have reasons for worry, Shota." Hizashi muttered to himself.

 _Though he does have his scarf with him and by the way he described it's usage the last few days, it's been pretty useful, strong, and capable._ He trusted Shota's word but also wanted to see it.

He placed the phone back in his pocket and continued towards the building, changing shoes, and walking through the halls until he came to his classroom and sat at his desk. Just a minute or two after Hizashi sat down, their teacher entered and class started, much to the boy's dismay. He wanted to stare at his phone until Shota messaged him again with another update of where he was, showcasing that he was indeed safe. However, Hizashi knew he had to turn his phone off and hoped that, by lunch he would have another update from Shota.

Meanwhile, the black-haired boy couldn't get the circulating thoughts of the villains out of his head.

 _They'd have to be put in custom-made cells._

 _The mind-reader can figure out a way out easily, using the guards' thoughts or the wardens._

 _The telepath could have made it a collaborative effort to escape by communicating with each member of the league back and forth. The only way I could think to combat this would be to have those two put to sleep. They could be artificially comatose or maybe they could just kill them._

 _But simply scheming to kidnap a child is not enough to warrant the death penalty._

 _And bubble guy's hands will be restrained so he can't snap his fingers._

 _When I get into questioning, I'm asking THEM some questions first, like what are the rest of their damn quirks so I know what I have to prepare for. It's so infuriating to be so blind in such a vital situation._

 _I wonder, if I hadn't erased that mind-reader's quirk, would everything have gone smoothly?_

 _There's no way they would've fallen for that shape-shifter unless we had the exact same thought process, not to mention, my apartment was kinda close to the convenience stores. I could've tried taking a nap during the exchange but I had to keep my guard up otherwise that whole ordeal could've ended up a lot worse. Then again, I fucked up pretty bad and had to jump out a window. At least they're in jail._

 _For now._

The boy mentally ranted for, seemingly hours, remembering that Hosu was eight stops away from his blond friend's home. Considering the amount of time between each stop and the speed of the train, him and Hizashi were at least an hour apart from each other if they went by car.

He heard his phone make a beeping noise.

He removed it from his pocket and saw that the battery was at 5 percent.

 _Shit._ He glared at the red battery icon at the corner of the screen.

The boy shut it off and returned the phone to his pocket.

 _Welp, looks like I won't be able to make or take any calls any time soon, what a nuisance._

"Um, excuse me, but uh, are you alone?" Some confused young woman asked, couldn't be much older than him or Hizashi so Shota made the simple deduction that she was skipping school so really, she was more of a girl than a woman but her bust and hips were rather mature.

"What?" Shota stared at the girl quizzically.

"Where are your parents?" She wondered, worried, pushing up her glasses.

"I'm gonna meet up with them in Hosu." The boy fibbed with his dead-panned expression and voice.

"How old are you?" She asked.

 _Why won't you leave me the hell alone?_ Shota managed to stop himself from saying that aloud.

"10." He lied but the girl easily believed it, sadly, much to the small teen's embarrassment.

 _Seriously? Do I really look 10? She believed it so easily! Dammit!_

"Then I'll sit with you until we get to Hosu." The woman sat beside him.

The boy wanted to just scurry to the other side of the train car but restrained himself.

"Why the scarf? It's not fall yet." She asked.

 _She is getting really nosy._

"I have a cold." He coughed and was confused when she smirked.

"Yeah right." She rolled her eyes and Shota pouted.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Nemuri Kayama and you?" Her smirk turned into a genuine sweet smile.

"Shota." The boy looked away.

"Last name?" She wondered.

"None of your business." He folded his arms.

"Come on! I told you mine!" She whined.

"And that was unnecessary information." The boy glared and the girl stuck her tongue out.

"How old are _you_?!" Shota demanded and she smirked again.

"14. But don't worry, I'll make sure you get to your family safe and sound." She proclaimed, Shota just stared with the same bored face.

"Don't bother. I'm sure you have far more fun things to do while you skip school than taking care of some little brat like me." Shota started playing with the lock of hair between his eyes.

"You know, you don't _act_ 10." Nemuri commented.

"That's why I'm allowed to ride trains by myself." Shota absently countered.

"When was the last time you slept? You've got bags under your eyes." Nemuri questioned.

"Last night. It's just genetic." He was starting to feel suffocated with the questions, slowly sinking into the massive pile of scarf he had draping his shoulders.

"I'm just a strange little boy with a cold who wears a scarf when it's hot and rides trains by himself like a hobo." Shota faked another cough in his effort to get Nemuri to leave him be without resorting to using his creepy quirk.

"Well you do kinda look like a little hobo." The girl snickered and Shota glared.

"Leave me alone. You're annoying." He bluntly told her.

"Aw~, don't be like that!" She scooted closer to him.

"I told you, I'm sick!" He fake-coughed. Nemuri smirked in amusement.

"And I can help keep you warm." She joked and watched, snickering as Shota's cheeks reddened and he looked away.

The boy felt extremely awkward in the girl's presence and wanted to run the moment the train stopped in Hosu.

Nemuri just knew that Shota wasn't 10, despite his small frame, his demeanor seemed far too mature for someone of that age. There was also something very uncanny about him, most likely the fact that he was wearing some dirty cat pajamas and if he was actually sick,

 _why would he be alone at any point in time?_

It was just too irresponsible. She would give his parents a piece of her mind.

 _He looks so pathetic and fragile._ She thought.

"So you like cats?" She asked, pointing at the boy's cat pajamas. Shota's face remained red.

"Shut up." He muttered.

"You're stubborn." She spoke at the same low volume.

"So are you." He scowled.

"I'm just making sure you end up safe."

"I'm fine."

"Are you?"

"Yes."

"Well, too bad. I'm staying." She crossed her legs.

"Alright. Guess that makes us both hobos, but I intend to leave the train." Shota smirked.

"I meant I'm staying with you! Not staying on the train." The girl was growing annoyed.

 _Maybe I can piss her off and get her to leave me alone like that._ He thought.

"But your grin is adorable." She pinched his cheek and his smirk dropped. He went back to scowling.

"Would you just get lost already?!" He restrained himself from yelling but his voice did raise a little.

"Nope." She was unphased by the boy's slight raise in volume but did retract her hand.

"I can't allow myself to abandon a little boy like you! You could be abducted!" She exclaimed.

 _Well...she's not wrong... Jeez...she's kinda hyper, acting almost like 'Zashi. Makes me wonder if she's an aspiring hero too. What a headache. Do I really look that pathetic?_

Shota groaned as he pinched his brow in aggravation.

"How old are you, really?" She asked and Shota tensed, then relaxed and sighed.

"13." He avoided eye contact, already aware she was going to be shocked at that answer.

"Wha-?" Her eyes widened then lowered and she noticed his fists were clenched and shaking.

The boy ceased answering questions, completely mute until they reached Hosu.

"I'm going to the police," was all he said as he got up and left, followed by Nemuri.

He tried to lose her, running as he ducked behind corners, made strange turns and tried to keep himself low while in a thick crowd but found his efforts fruitless because the girl always managed to find him. She smirked while Shota glared.

"I'm gonna make sure you get to the police safely." She told him and he relented, groaning and the two started walking side by side. Shota pouted, pocketing his hands, slouching and grumbling to himself while Nemuri kept an arm wrapped around him like they were friends.

"Nemuri. Personal space." Shota hissed.

"You're no fun." She scoffed and let him go.

When they reached the police department, almost everyone inside recognized the boy.

"Ah! Aizawa! Glad to see you're okay." The nearest officer exclaimed. Nemuri stared quizzically.

"Didn't the chief call you guys and tell you that I was fine?" Shota asked.

"Yes, but it's nice to actually see it with our own eyes." The woman behind the desk said.

"Anyway, There's a lot of questioning to be done I'm guessing?" The boy sighed.

"Not as much as you'd think, actually. We'll need you to tell us all you remember of the-...oh! My bad! I didn't realize you were on a date!" The officer joked and Shota turned bright red.

"Oh shut up!" He spat.

"What happened to you?" Nemuri looked at Shota.

"A lot." Shota blandly replied.

"So, you gonna introduce us?" The officer smirked and the boy scowled.

"Ugh. She's a stranger that followed me from the train. Rather suspicious and creepy if you ask me." Nemuri glared at the, now also smirking teen.

"My name is Nemuri. I was trying to make sure he got home safely." The girl pouted and confidently placed her hands on her hips, glaring at the officer.

"The gesture is appreciated, now then, Aizawa-"

"Yeah, yeah." The boy grumbled, waving dismissively then stuffing his hands into his pockets again and walking down the hallway. Nemuri wasn't allowed to follow him any further.

"Can I wait for him?" She asked.

"Sorry but we don't know how long the questioning will take, you're also not his legal guardian. I'm afraid you have to leave, miss." The woman behind the desk told her. Nemuri muttered to herself and begrudgingly left. She decided to wait outside.


	18. Chapter 18

Meanwhile, Shota had entered that same lifeless questioning room and sat down at the solitary table. A couple minutes later, another officer entered the room and sat down across from the boy.

"Alright. Can you recount the events?" The man asked as he got out his notepad.

"Starting from which point?" Shota raised an eyebrow.

"The beginning of the meeting with the league of villains." He told the teen.

"First, my questions! Are they in cells tailored to their specific quirks?!" The boy demanded.

"I don't have that information." The man calmly answered.

"Isn't there a way to contact the warden of the prison they're in and find out?!" He asked.

"Ugh, look, kid, I'm sure the prison is doing everything in its power to keep those bastards locked away nice and tight." The man avoided eye contact, groaning with annoyance as Shota scowled at him.

 _Asshole! You're just too lazy to actually check!_ The boy thought.

"Fine! I'll answer your questions." He grumbled.

 _Where's the other guy I spoke to last time I was questioned?_

"That's a good boy!" The man said.

 _Don't patronize me, dammit!_ Shota pouted then took a deep breath and sighed.

"Alright, it was late at night and I was watching through my bedroom window-".

Meanwhile,

a certain blond boy was sitting on the roof at lunch time with nothing to eat and simply staring at his phone, waiting, mentally pleading for an update from Shota.

"Oh come on! Maybe I should call him?" The boy finally gave in and pressed the 'call' button, placing the phone close to his ear. He heard it ring but almost immediately went to voicemail. Reluctantly, he chose to leave a message for him.

"Hey! Hey, Shota, it's me, 'Zashi. I wanted to call to check up on you and see how you were doing but obviously you're busy with other stuff so...call me back when you get the chance? Bye!" He hung up.

 _Wait a minute, he could be angry with me again, maybe he's still mad about this morning? Maybe I should leave another message. Then again, he could be busy, but would it really do any harm to send another message? Maybe he'll answer this time._

Hizashi hit 'call' again. Once again, it immediately went to voicemail.

"Uh, if you're mad at me, which is totally fine, I don't wanna sound like a jerk by calling you out for something you have every right to be. I'm sorry about this morning and yeah, I know you told me that if I apologize too much it'll lose meaning but I can't help it, just like how I can't help worrying about you. Feel free to call me when you get the chance or text or whatever you feel like doing." He said and hung up again, nervous that the last one wasn't good enough.

 _Dammit! He's definitely not gonna call me back if he hears THAT message! I have to make a new one!_

He hit 'call' again...

Meanwhile, 2 hours later...

the questioning finished after an hour, since the moment they finished talking about the villains, the man went on to try and ask Shota about his family. There was a great amount of struggling since he so desperately wanted to remain with his aunt and her 5 cats, however, the black-haired boy eventually relented and gradually gave the officer the details about his relationship with both of them. When he finished talking, it was at the 1 hour mark.

"Thank you, Shota. Now, if you excuse me, I'll be back real quick." The man said and left the room. Upon checking his watch and seeing it had been two whole hours, the boy scowled at the door with a huff, folding his arms.

 _'real quick' my ass!_

Then suddenly, the officer who had questioned him the first time entered the room. Shota raised an eyebrow and the man noticed him relax his tense shoulders a tiny bit.

"Alright, Shota, listen, I'm just gonna be straight with you." He began, dawning a serious expression.

 _Oh great. Is this another lecture?_

"We're gonna have to remove you again." He told the boy. Shota's eyes widened briefly but he blinked a few times and heaved a heavy sigh.

 _Why am I not surprised?_

"Your aunt is unfit to be your guardian. Hell, she even-..." He stopped himself.

"She even what?" The boy asked, scowling at the man.

"Nothing." He tried to be as dismissive as the boy, waving off Shota's question but those black eyes were staring into his soul.

"What did she do?!" The boy demanded.

"Nevermind. It's better that you don't know. So, _anyway!_ You're going to be put in a child care facility." The man quickly changed the subject but Shota wouldn't stop scowling.

"It'll be in a different city, much further away and so you'll be starting a new middle school, too." He told the grumpy teen.

"What's the difference in distance?" The boy begrudgingly asked.

"By train, about three hours." The officer stated.

"Good God." Shota dragged his hand down his face with a groan of annoyance.

 _I don't think I can really visit 'Zashi much. But if this means I'll be fed, then fine, I guess._

"It's for your safety." The man told him. Shota wanted to just punch him in the face.

"Now will you tell me what my aunt did?" The boy asked, calmly.

"I think we're done here." The man stated and got up from his seat.

"NO! Just tell me!" The boy demanded, unsure whether to threaten or beg.

"Your aunt, that ghastly woman. I understand now easily how she's your father's sister. Not just by starving and neglecting you. At the end of the questioning...she asked us if you were going to be taken away from her. We said that we couldn't tell her that and her response..." The man paused, Shota saw the pity in the man's eyes.

"Tell me! I can handle it!" The boy insisted.

"She said 'I hope you do take that annoying little shit. If he hadn't jumped out that window, I was about to throw him out one.'" The man quoted. Shota stopped glaring and looked away.

That line replayed over and over again in his head as he fought internally to maintain his dull face. Him and the man exited the questioning room, Shota, still thinking about what his aunt technically said.

The arrangements were already being made for the boy to move out of his aunt's place and into the child care facility, luckily the only things he had to move were clothing and a cat plushy that he would cuddle at night and his charger for his phone.

The officers told him he had to get a different phone, though since there was the possibility that the villains, if they ever got out, could find a way or maybe already have a member that could track him via his cellphone. Shota wanted to object but he also didn't want to take that chance either.

"Can I charge it so I can see the number of someone in my contacts at least?" He asked.

"I suppose, but may I ask who's number it is?" The officer wondered.

"Y-Yamada." Shota hesitantly answered.

"Then, no." He told the boy.

"What?"

"We want to keep you two apart. Hand me the phone." The man held out his hand for Shota to place his phone into and, reluctantly, he obeyed.

"Thank you." The man said but Shota didn't respond with anything other than a glare.

 _They're gonna prevent us from having any contact. Dammit! All 'Zashi knows is that I got on the train safely! I have to find some way for us to talk again but, his address and phone number are in my phone, how can I visit him or call him when I don't know either of those things?! Maybe I should use this time to work on other stuff. I can keep practicing with my scarf and other stuff like my fighting style to become a better hero. I seem to already be fine with stealth._

The boy tried his best to look at the bright side. His glare towards the man standing beside him faded.

"Whatever." He muttered, mentally preparing himself for his new life with the other abandoned kids in the child care facility.


	19. Chapter 19

2 and a half years later,

Shota's fresh out of middle school and beginning to walk towards the building where he'll make his dreams come true,

U.A. High school.

He approached the front doors along with tons of other students from different middle schools across Japan. Shota was happy, ecstatic even but his countenance expressed a look of great annoyance and boredom, his eyes were a little strained and had dark circles under them since he had been cramming for the past two weeks for the written exam and so, he was constantly yawning. His hair had grown a little but only by an inch since it grew so slowly but, at least he had also gained some height and some muscle from a steady diet and proper excersizing. He went from 4'7 to 5'1.

His off-putting demeanor may have increased in intensity since some students distanced themselves while walking near him, except for a certain blond boy with spiraled green eyes and orange glasses.

Despite all the changes, the blond recognized Shota.

 _He kept his promise! Why didn't he call, though?! I'm glad to finally see him in person, he's finally, at last, healthy. So they weren't lying when they said he was eating well! Thank God! I should go up to him and see if he remembers me! Haha! But...why am I so shy to do so all of a sudden?_

The blond had been dying to see and speak with Shota again and now that he was given the chance, he froze up, fearful of what might happen, how he might react. Would things go back to how they were? Then again, he couldn't really describe in words or truly remember "how things 'were'". The blond bowed his head and stopped walking to simply watch Shota walk in.

They all sat down in the auditorium and were given papers to look over while the practical exam's format was announced. The blond sat himself in the same row as Shota.

The teens were all told that it was going to be robots. A very physical test.

Concerned for the black-haired boy and his non-physical quirk, he turned to face him but saw that he was emotionless. Then again, it was kinda difficult to tell in the darkness of the room.

The kids then all got up and started heading towards the locker rooms with their backpacks to change into something they can fight in then met up again at the entrance to the fake city in which the exam would be held. Suddenly, the green eyed blond started to get a bit nervous while he was a mix of emotions. He saw the scarf on Shota's shoulders and his determined glare at the door.

 _How far has he come with it?_

Then the count down began.

The doors opened and all the teens ran in. Hizashi noticed the scarf shoot towards a building's vent and it automatically coiled around it and launched the black-haired teen towards it and he landed on the roof.

"Ouch!" The blond heard him yelp since he was so close to the building Shota had harshly collided on.

 _Looks like he hasn't mastered the landing part completely._

All the robots were down the street and apparently on the other side of the buildings Shota was on since he heard crashing there. He ran in that direction and found Shota lifting and smashing together robots using his scarf. The timer was running down fast, though so, Hizashi drew in a deep breath, just as Shota was lowering himself down from the building he stood atop and screamed.

All robots in the path of his screech were destroyed, all windows were shattered, and the blond saw the black-haired boy get tossed away with great force. When Hizashi stopped screaming, he looked at the damaged, originally with satisfaction, thinking about how many villains he could easily take out, then noticed Shota.

Hizashi ran to him and found he was unconscious, ears bleeding, and had acquired several injuries as well from the blast.

When Shota woke up, his hearing was fixed, bleeding was gone and injuries were healed. He turned to his right and saw some old woman with a needle in her bun and to his left was Hizashi. The blond was tearing up to see Shota awake.

"How do you feel?" He frantically asked.

"Fine." Shota expressed clearly mixed emotions in his dull voice.

"Shota, I'm so, so sorry I hit you with my quirk! I swear I never meant for it to hap-!"

Shota put up his hand like a stop sign to get him to cease talking and it actually worked.

"No, _I'm_ sorry." The black-haired boy refused to make eye contact. He was apologizing, yet still seemed mad at Hizashi for the incident. He turned towards the old lady who was organizing her work.

"Can I go home?" He requested in the same bored tone he had used to speak every other sentence he had spoken to Hizashi with and every time the blond saw his face, it was the exact same tired look.

"Let's check your stability first. Firstly, walk in a straight line." She got off her chair to observe closer once Shota was off the bed and began the walking tests.

"Now follow my finger." And she made various strange lines and shapes with her finger in front of the black-haired boy for his strained eyes to follow. When he finished each test, she went back to her desk and marked off his name, waving him off.

"Alright, you're free to go. Try not to get into any brawls or use your quirk too much during your walk home, Aizawa." The old lady told him. Shota nodded, waving dismissively, slinging his backpack over his shoulder, then exiting the office, Hizashi quickly following suit.

The blond had a plastic bag with him and, just as Shota pocketed his hands and entered a slouched position, Hizashi handed the tangled bundle of fabric to the other boy.

"S-sorry I didn't untangle it! I didn't know when you were gonna wake up and didn't want it to look like I was messing with your stuff and-!" Suddenly, the quiet boy's black eyes shot open, flaring red, his hair rose and the scarf began to float, leaving Hizashi's hand and naturally gravitating towards Shota. The scarf coiled around him, closer and closer, nearly encasing his head then he blinked and it, along with his hair fell limp, perfectly draping his shoulders.

"Woah! C _ool!_ " The blond held his throat, feeling as though a chain had been placed on it. He turned to Shota and was facing those red eyes again and anxiously laughed. Then the boy blinked and faced forward, slouching once again. Hizashi's throat chain had been unlocked. Shota didn't say a word.

"Ehehe, still really like the quiet, huh?" Hizashi desperately tried to make the situation un-awkward.

Shota just shrugged.

"Seems you've gotten a lot of scarf practice in the past two and a half years!" The blond grinned.

"Yup. You?" Shota asked.

"Are you asking what I've been up to? Well, a lot of stuff! Guitar practice is going really well, so is my self-defense classes! We should spar some time!" Hizashi excitedly held up to fists and punched the air like an imaginary opponent.

"Neat." Shota muttered quietly, looking out the window as they neared the shoe lockers.

"You seem really down, Shota, if something's bothering you, you can always talk to me." Hizashi assured, patting him on the back with his usual big grin.

Shota didn't respond. He simply began playing with the black lock of hair that laid between his eyes like he usually does when he's nervous.

The two went to their respective lockers, switched shoes, then started their walk home.

Once they were off school grounds, Shota became more talkative.

"Shota, please, why didn't you ever call or text me? For the rest of middle school I was terrified of something happening to you." Hizashi asked.

"I couldn't remember your number or address when they took my phone away. They specifically did their best to cut off our communication since, supposedly, us being together means bad news." Shota told him, clenching his fists and scowling at the ground, still spoken in the same dull voice.

"Well, now that we _are_ back together," Hizashi began and coiled his arm around Shota's.

"Let's try to spite them by me walking you home every day!" The blond exclaimed.

"Uh, 'Zashi...my train ride home takes hours, meaning it'll be 8 hours for you. I appreciate the little gesture but, I don't like the idea of you walking alone at night. You can walk me to the station, though, if you want." Shota nonchalantly told him.

"Sure." Hizashi sighed. The two continued their walk.

"So, are you still living in that child care facility?" Hizashi asked.

"I'm living with my cousins." He absently muttered.

"Are _they_ jerks too?!" Hizashi asked.

"No. But, seriously, I swear my cousins are ghosts!" Shota declared and Hizashi tilted his head.

"Huh?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I _never_ see them. We were introduced to each other when I first moved in a month ago and I haven't seen them since. I think it's their work hours or something but at least they keep the kitchen stocked." Shota elaborated and Hizashi smiled, thankful.

"At least you have food." Hizashi told him.

"It's basically the same as having my own apartment at 15." Shota looked away.

"Well now I wanna see it!" The excited blond declared.

"There's nothing special about it. It's just an apartment with gross beige walls and, sadly, no cats." Shota groaned.

"Sounds like you've been cat-starved." Hizashi joked.

"No, actually." Shota gave the blond a toothy, wide-eyed grin. It looked like the grin of a psycho but the green eyed boy just nervously laughed it off.

 _I've never seen him smile like that. That's the creepy grin of a person who doesn't know how to or hasn't grinned in a long time. It's freaking me out!_ Hizashi thought, nervously.

The black-haired boy returned to his tired neutral face and the blond was so relieved.


End file.
